Community Based Programs for Youth

1
Community Based Programs for Youth

• Jacquelynne S. Eccles
• University of Michigan

2
Goals

• Discuss general issues related to the need for
  better programming for youth
• Provide summary of what works in community based
  programs for youth
• Based in part on the recent NRC/IOM report
  Community Programs to Promote Youth Development
  and in part on other reports and research

3
Sponsors of NRC/IOM Report on Community Programs
for Youth

• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
  Office of the Assistant Secretary of Planning and
  Evaluation
• U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile
  Justice and Delinquency Prevention
• U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development,
  Office of Research, Evaluation, and Monitoring
  Ford Foundation
• The Ford Foundation
• The William T. Grant Foundation
• The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
• Carnegie Corporation of New York

NRC/IOM
4
Members of NRC/IOM Committee

• Jacquelynne Eccles (Chair), University of
  Michigan
• Cheryl Alexander, Johns Hopkins University
• Brett Brown, Child Trends, Inc.
• Sarah Brown, National Campaign to Prevent Teen
  Pregnancy
• Kenyon Chan, Loyola Marymount University
• Elizabeth Colson, University of California,
  Berkeley
• Thomas Cook, Northwestern University
• Peter Edelman, Georgetown University Law Center

• Caswell Evans, National Institutes of Health
• Ronald Ferguson, Harvard University
• Robert Granger, Manpower Demonstration Research
  Corporation
• Teresa LaFromboise, Stanford University
• Reed Larson, University of Illinois-Urbana-Champai
  gn
• Milbrey McLaughlin, Stanford University
• Robert Plotnick, University of Washington
• Zena Stein, Columbia University
• Jennifer Gootman, Study Director

5
Social Forces Have Changed the Landscape of
Family and Community Life

• A combination of factors have weakened the
  informal community support once available to
  young people
• high rates of family mobility
• greater anonymity in neighborhoods
• extensive media exposure to themes of violence
  and heavy use of drugs and alcohol
• deterioration and disorganization of
  neighborhoods

NRC/IOM
6
Social Forces Have Changed the Landscape of
Family and Community Life

• increasingly complex, technical, and
  multicultural world
• extended length of adolescence pathways to
  adulthood less clear and more numerous

NRC/IOM
7
Good News

• Adolescent well-being and behavior have shown
  substantial improvement since the late 1980s
• serious violent juvenile crime has declined
• teen pregnancy has decreased
• more young people are graduating from high school
• more young people are participating in volunteer
  and community service

NRC/IOM
8
Bad News

• There are continuing problems during this period
• cigarette smoking has increased
• HIV infection has increased
• school violence has increased
• obesity has increased
• many youth are entering the labor market with
  inadequate knowledge and soft skills

NRC/IOM
9
NRC/IOM Committee Conclusions

• Some youth are doing very well
• Some youth are taking dangerous risks and doing
  poorly
• All youth need a variety of experiences to
  develop to their full potential
• Some youth have unmet needs and are particularly
  at risk
• There is a need for more high quality
  community-based programs for youth

NRC/IOM
10
Positive Youth Development

• Approach is not viewed as replacing focus on
  preventing problems, but rather creating a
  framework that promotes positive outcomes for all
  young people
• To prevent is not to fully prepare

NRC/IOM Karen Pittman
11
Personal and Social Assets

• Represent Healthy Development and Well-Being
  During Adolescence
• Facilitate Successful Transitions from Childhood,
  Through Adolescence, and Into Adulthood

NRC/IOM
12
Personal and Social Assets

• Four developmental domains
• Physical
• Intellectual
• Psychological and emotional
• Social

NRC/IOM
13
Physical Development

• As good general health status as possible
• Good health habits

NRC/IOM
14
Intellectual Development

• Knowledge of
• Life skills
• Vocational skills
• Cognitive skills
• Cultural skills
• School Success
• Rational habits of mind
• Good decision-making skills

NRC/IOM
15
Psychological Development

• Good mental health
• Emotional skills
• Self-regulation
• Coping and conflict management
• Self-efficacy
• Mastery achievement motivation
• Planfulness and optimism
• Sense of purpose or spirituality
• Coherent and positive personal and social
  identities

NRC/IOM
16
Social Development

• Strong and positive social relationships with
  parents, peers, and other adults
• Connectedness
• A sense of being integrated into social groups
  and systems
• Attachment to positive social institutions such
  as schools, faith-based organizations and youth
  centers
• Ability to navigate in multiple cultural settings
• Commitment to civic engagement

NRC/IOM
17
Personal and Social Assets

• Individuals do not necessarily need the entire
  range of assets to thrive
• Having more assets is better than having a few
• Continued exposure to positive experiences,
  settings, and people, as well as abundant
  opportunities to gain and refine life skills,
  supports young people in the acquisition and
  growth of these assets

NRC/IOM
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Promoting Adolescent Development at the Program
Level

• What is necessary for adolescents to be happy,
  healthy, and productive at the present time, as
  well as successful, contributing adults in the
  future?

NRC/IOM
19
Promoting Positive Youth Development
Provide diverse opportunities for young people to
Move into healthy and productive adulthood
Engage with caring adults outside their families
Promote positive relationships with other youth
Be happy and healthy
Young People
Provide opportunities to learn healthy and valued
behaviors, expectations, values, morals, and
skills
Develop sense of security and personal identity
NRC/IOM
20
Karen Pittmans White Space
Karen Pittman and colleagues
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Features of Programs that Influence Development

• Physical and psychological safety
• Appropriate structure
• Supportive relationships
• Opportunities to belong

• Positive social norms
• Support for efficacy and mattering
• Opportunities for skill building
• Integration of family, school, and community
  efforts

NRC/IOM
22
Physical and Psychological Safety

• Supportive Practices
• Increase safe peer interactions
• Decrease unsafe or confrontational peer
  interactions

• Contra Indicators
• Physical and health dangers
• Feelings of fear and insecurity
• Sexual and physical harassment and verbal abuse

NRC/IOM
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Age and Culturally Appropriate Structure

• Supportive Practices
• Appropriate levels of monitoring, rules and
  controls
• Clear rules and limits
• Consistent and fair enforcement

• Contra Indicators
• Disorganization
• Excessive levels of control
• Feelings of unfairness and lack of structure

NRC/IOM
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Opportunities to Belong

• Opportunities for social inclusion for all groups
• Active outreach to increase diversity of
  participants
• Encouragement of strong positive social identity
  formation
• Support for cultural and multi-cultural
  competencies

• Exclusionary practices by staff
• Ignoring exclusionary behavior among the
  participants
• Tolerance of bullying or other discriminatory
  behavior

NRC/IOM
25
Opportunities for Mattering

• Youth-based empowerment practices
• Opportunities to provide meaningful services to
  ones community
• Opportunities to move into positions of
  leadership and responsibility

• Excessive adult control
• Limited opportunities to provide meaningful and
  valued contributions
• Limited opportunities for leadership and
  decision-making roles in organization

NRC/IOM
26
Opportunities for Developing a Sense of Efficacy

• Provision of challenging activities with stress
  on improvement
• Stress mastery not competition
• Opportunities to demonstrate and celebrate ones
  accomplishments
• High expectations for everyone

• Stress on current levels of competence in a
  social comparative frame of reference
• Insufficient opportunities to demonstrate
  improvement following failure
• Failure to provide activities that allow success
  experiences at all skill levels

NRC/IOM
27
Opportunities to Learn Essential Skills
NRC/IOM

• Intentional learning environments
• Use of embedded learning strategies
• Opportunities to learn life skills and soft
  skills
• Opportunities to learn cultural and
  multi-cultural competence to navigate multiple
  complex worlds

• Practices that support bad physical and cognitive
  habits
• Practices that undermine learning at school
• Limited opportunities to engage in new and
  challenging activities
• Failure to use opportunities for embedded
  learning

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Intentional Learning Envirnoments

• Community

Knowledge- centered
Assessment- centered
Youth- centered
McLaughlin
29
Knowledge-centered Learning Context

• Clear learning foci about something in
  particular
• Quality content and exemplary instruction
• Use principles of embedded curriculum so that a
  range of academic competencies and life skills
  are taught within each type of activity
• Use many different types of teachers including
  the youth themselves

McLaughlin
30
Assessment-centered Learning Contexts

• Clearly articulated cycles of planning,
  practice, and performance
• Regular opportunities for feedback and
  recognition often through public performances and
  other forms of celebration
• Focus feedback on improvement and meeting
  individual specific objectives rather than
  competition and social comparison

McLaughlin
31
Youth-centered Learning Contexts

• Respond to diverse talents, skills, and interests
  by providing a rich array of activities that have
  opportunities to participate at all levels of
  expertise
• Identify and build on the strengths of each
  participating youth by providing opportunities
  for each youth to do what they can do best as
  well as to learn new skills
• Use developmentally and cultural appropriate
  materials that allow youth to grow in skills and
  leaderships within the specific activities

McLaughlin
32
Youth-centered Learning Contexts - 2

• Provide extensive personal attention from the
  adults
• Stress youth leadership and voice
• Actively recruit youth using a variety of locally
  appropriate methods

McLaughlin
33
Conclusions

• We know a lot about what works
• We know much less about how to create and sustain
  programs high in experiences that work
• Current funding and policy climates makes it very
  difficult for staff to create and sustain
  organizations that work well