The 5C’s of Positive Youth Development
- Connection. A feeling of safety, structure, and belonging; positive bonds with people and social institutions.
- Confidence. A sense of self-worth and mastery; having a belief in one’s capacity to succeed.
- Character. Taking responsibility; a sense of independence and individuality; connection to principles and values.
- Competence. ...
- Contribution. ...
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How to promote positive youth development?
- Structure and limits that are developmentally appropriate and that recognize adolescents’ increasing social maturity and expertise;
- Physical and psychological safety and security;
- Opportunities to experience supportive relationships and to have good emotional and moral support;
- Opportunities to feel a sense of belonging;
What are we learning about positive youth development (PYD)?
- We have adopted a behavior management system designed to focus on the positive attributes in youth’s behavior.
- We offer a structured play model that encourages youth to practice real life skills through play.
- We offer hands-on learning that provides unique experiences and reinforces skill building.
Why is a positive youth development learning agenda?
The purpose of this learning agenda is to define priority questions in the field of Positive Youth Development (PYD) in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). This PYD learning agenda builds upon the findings of the Systematic Review of PYD Programs in LMICs that highlighted gaps in the evidence for what works and for whom.
What exactly is a youth development program?
What Exactly Is a Youth Development Program? Answers From Research and Practice. J. Roth, J. Brooks-Gunn; Psychology. 2003; The philosophy guiding youth development programs-that resilience and competency building are central to helping youth navigate adolescence in healthy ways-provides the groundwork for an exciting and …
What is positive youth development?
Positive youth development (PYD) programs provide youth with networks of supportive adults. Unlike many prevention programs that focus solely on risk behaviors, PYD programs aim to develop and enhance positive characteristics of individuals and their surrounding context.
What is the meaning of youth development?
Youth development is a process that prepares a young person to meet the challenges of adolescence and adulthood and achieve his or her full potential. Youth development is promoted through activities and experiences that help youth develop social, ethical, emotional, physical, and cognitive competencies.
What does positive youth development emphasize?
Following, PYD is a strength-based approach in which youth develop by identifying and honing skills, competencies, and interests in a way that helps them reach their full potential. PYD also emphasizes that youth themselves play an active role in their development.
What is positive youth development in positive Psychology?
Positive youth development is the practice of nurturing core internal strengths and abilities in children and teens. It is about providing opportunities for youth to believe in themselves and their abilities to influence their lives and the world around them.
Why is youth development important?
The goal of positive youth development programs is to encourage and facilitate the growth of "functionally valued" behaviors resulting in thriving and well-being throughout adolescence, with the ultimate goal of helping youth develop into productive and contributing adults (Damon, 2004;Lerner, 2004;Roth and Brooks-Gunn ...
How can I improve my youth development?
How to Promote Positive Youth DevelopmentPhysical and psychological safety;Supportive relationships;Opportunities to belong;Support for efficacy and mattering;Positive social norms;Opportunities for skill-building;Appropriate structure; and.Integration of family, school, and community efforts.
What is an example of positive youth development?
Opportunities to form close, durable human relationships with peers that support and reinforce healthy behaviors. A sense of belonging and personal value. Opportunities to develop positive social values and norms. Opportunities for skill building and mastery.
What are the 5 characteristics of positive youth development?
The Five Cs of Positive Youth Development, comprising competence, confidence, connection, caring and character, leading to a sixth C of contribution, is a well-known and well-researched PYD model (Heck & Subramaniam, 2009) and much of this work has been undertaken in the United States with quantitative methodologies.
What is the meaning of positive development?
Positive development is defined as structures that increase universal life quality and future options by expanding the 'ecological base' (ecosystems, ecological carrying capacity, biodiversity) and the 'public estate' (universal access to means of survival/wellbeing and social capital).
What are the 5 stages of youth development?
Children Show Common Characteristics of Youth Development.Ages 5-8, Early Childhood.Ages 9-11, Middle Childhood.Ages 12-14, Early Adolescence.Ages 15-18, Middle Adolescence.
What is positive youth behavior?
Positive youth development (PYD) is one such intervention. In the UK, PYD has been defined as voluntary educational activities aiming to promote generalised positive development, in terms of skills, attitudes, relationships and identities, rather than merely preventing problem behaviours [24].
When did positive youth development start?
1990sPositive youth development (PYD) emerged in the 1990s as a response to the deficit model of adolescent development that had been predominant throughout the 20th century.
What are the 5 C's of youth development?
Lerner (2009) described PYD as a process that promotes the “5Cs”: competence, confidence, connection, character, and caring. Lerner (2009) also described thriving young people as individuals who actively nurture, cultivate, and develop positive qualities.
What is youth development PDF?
Youth development has traditionally and is still most widely used to mean a natural process: the growing capacity of a young person to understand and act on the environment. In this usage, it is identical to child or adolescent development.
What are youth development activities?
Youth Development Programs and Education Of particular interest are efforts to provide youth development activities in school buildings during nonschool hours. Such activities range from educational enrichment, career exploration and development, and social and recreational opportunities.
What are the elements that can protect young people and put them on the path to success?
Some of the elements that can protect young people and put them on the path to success include family support, caring adults, positive peer groups, a strong sense of self and self-esteem, and involvement at school and in the community.
Why are young people better prepared for adulthood?
According to this research: Young people may have fewer behavioral problems and may be better prepared for a successful transition to adulthood if they have a variety of opportunities to learn and participate at home, at school, in community-based programs and in their neighborhoods. Some of the elements that can protect young people ...
What is a PYD program?
Researchers have evaluated many programs that target specific issues (e.g., substance abuse prevention) using a PYD approach. And there is a growing body of evidence that PYD programs can prevent a variety of risk behaviors among young people and improve social and emotional outcomes.
How does 4-H help youth?
Youth consistently engaged in 4-H were found to be at much lower risk of having personal, social and behavioral problems than other youth. They were less likely to smoke and drink than their peers, had better grades and were more likely to expect to attend college.
What is supportive adult relationships?
Supportive adult relationships. Opportunities to form close, durable human relationships with peers that support and reinforce healthy behaviors. A sense of belonging and personal value. Opportunities to develop positive social values and norms. Opportunities for skill building and mastery.
What is positive youth development?
Positive youth development programs strengthen young people’s sense of identity, belief in the future, self-regulation, and self-efficacy as well as their social, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral competence. Positive youth development (PYD) programs provide youth with networks of supportive adults.
What is Act for Youth?
Act for Youth. Service-Learning and Adolescent Sexual Health external icon . This resource provides an overview of service learning and its association with adolescent sexual health.
What is a PYD program?
Positive youth development (PYD) programs provide youth with networks of supportive adults. Unlike many prevention programs that focus solely on risk behaviors, PYD programs aim to develop and enhance positive characteristics of individuals and their surrounding context.
How does PYD work?
By increasing protective factors rather than focusing on risk behaviors related to a single adverse outcome, PYD programs have benefits across a range of health and academic outcomes. Positive youth development programs have been found to be effective in reducing sexual risk behaviors, HIV, other STDs, and unintended pregnancy.
What is a positive youth development program?
Positive Youth Development (PYD) is the entire system of support (school, home, community) that builds upon the strengths of youth and recognizes the risky behavior they may exhibit. PYD involves youth as active agents – adults and youth work in partnership. Civic involvement is a big component of PYD and works best when every element of the community in involved (school, home, community).
What do youth do in community service?
Youth participate in community service projects – they not only participate in the activity, they help come up with what they are going to do and plan the components as well.
What is PYD in workforce development?
Workforce development providers have the ability to integrate the elements of PYD into their local program settings by infusing programs for young adults with PYD elements, training staff to feel comfortable with the PYD approach, and preparing young adults to surmount workforce realities. Although the integration of PYD practices into programs such as workforce development can take time and effort, the benefits of implementing these practices can be far-reaching.
What is PYD in education?
PYD is an approach that builds on that research and experience promising the new approach we are looking for. Often, positive youth development approaches arose from grassroots initiatives, where practitioners independently came up with PYD strategies. Over time, evaluations have indicated their efficacy.
What is the PYD strategy?
However, the PYD strategy involves building strengths, knowing that youth with greater strengths generally have fewer problems. To reach these positive outcomes, PYD provides opportunities. This might include: And, of course, a critical component of this approach is the positive relationships that are fostered.
What is the working assumption of PYD?
The working assumption is that all youth have strengths and that youth can contribute positively. PYD draws on the strengths that youth offer, in ways that are a good use of time. Not busy-work, but meaningful projects or work, that enhance youths’ strengths.
What is a PYD program?
Importantly, PYD is an approach. In other words, PYD is not a specific curriculum or a particular program. A positive youth development approach can be implemented across different types of programs, systems, and settings. So, it can take on different forms and it can co-exist with varied programs – an apprenticeship program, a clinic-based program, an employment program, for example.
What does "affirming" mean in youth?
This means relationships that are affirming of the youth, relationships that are warm in age-appropriate ways, consistent, and trustworthy. Many youth have not experienced trustworthy and respectful relationships with adults, and it is important to provide that.
Why is volunteering important for youth?
Importantly, researchers find that getting youth involved in pro-social activities, such as volunteer work, reduces the likelihood that they will engage in problem behaviors. Just how this happens isn’t specified, though.
What is youth development?
The youth development approach emphasizes the importance of meeting young people where they are— physically, academically, socially, and emotionally—to help them build the relationships, competencies, and confidence they need to succeed in life. While each youth development organization operates differently, their common denominator is the commitment to create supportive learning settings that nurture young people’s strengths and interests and enable them to thrive. Relationship building is at the heart of what these organizations do. While an organization may be known by its activities or content—an arts program, a sports league, an environmental camp—young people consistently voice a common refrain: they may initially be “hooked” by the activity, but they stay because of the bonds they form with peers and adults. Youth development organizations span and are staffed by every sector of the community—nonprofits, faith- based organizations, employers, businesses, civic and arts associations, and public agencies focused on rec- reation, health, safety, and learning. They range from afterschool programs and community centers to men- toring programs and summer camps. Their staff and volunteers work in and across systems and sectors, meeting youth wherever they are—in schools, sports leagues, clubs and community centers, as well as in public housing, detention centers, homeless shelters, and hospitals. Youth development organizations provide myriad learning opportunities in an array of settings. United in the belief that America’s bedrock principle of equal opportunity necessitates a balanced approach to learn- ing, these organizations recognize that learning is fun- damentally social, emotional, cognitive, and academic. They acknowledge that young people are learning all the time, both during and out of school, and in families, neighborhoods, and communities. They support an approach to learning that develops a broad set of skills, knowledge, and competencies needed to become a life- long learner, productive worker, and engaged citizen. And they foster settings and services that allow young people to grow while exploring interests and wrestling with issues that reflect their passions and concerns. In the last decade, youth development organizations have strengthened their collective capacity to increase young people’s access to quality learning settings, both in and out of school as well as throughout the day and year. Partnering with public officials across the coun- try, these organizations have created the state and local infrastructure needed to coordinate, measure, and improve their programming. They have worked to ensure that learning activities are available in such hard-to-reach settings as rural communities and housing projects, and they have sought to reach young people in the digital world where they spend increasing amounts of time. The organizations’ expanded capacity is due, in part, to the growing number of local and state afterschool and summer learning systems and networks that are providing assessment and training aimed at increas- ing access to quality youth development experiences. Often referred to as “intermediaries,” these organi- zations represent cross-sector partnerships among youth development providers, city agencies, school districts, employers, and other stakeholders who want to support the whole learner through a systems approach.iiiWhile there is still much to be learned, youth development organizations can and do partner with schools and districts. Together they prioritize and integrate social, emotional, cognitive, and academic development to address persistent achievement gaps and the needs of increasing numbers of youth who are challenged by poverty.
How can youth development organizations help families?
Youth development organizations can also broker crit- ical connections, services, and supports that families may need to help their children come to school healthy and ready to learn. Finally, it is critical to equity that communities embrace the vision that every young person should have both the access and the means to participate in quality youth development opportunities—opportunities that are developmentally appropriate and meet young peo- ple’s needs and interests.
What is the Denver Afterschool Alliance?
The Denver Afterschool Alliance (DAA) partners with Denver Public Schools (DPS) to make social, emotional, and academic learning (SEAL) a priority . Denver’s SEAL Initiative focuses on building the capacity of DPS and afterschool program staff—through aligned professional learning, coaching, partnership, and collaboration— to cultivate SEAL-rich, high-quality learning settings where youth can thrive and be successful in school, out of school, and in life. Leveraging their expertise in positive youth development, the DAA works with four out-of- school-time (OST) organizations at six schools to elevate afterschool programming and cultivate a SEAL-rich climate and culture conducive to learning and growth. OST staff work alongside school- based SEAL coaches to develop and provide 30-minute bursts of social and emotional learning content to DPS and afterschool staff in joint professional devel- opment settings. Providing the opportunity for OST staff to be seen as experts within the school space has a tremendous impact on the partnership, communica- tion streams, and ultimately on the young people and families in the school communities.x
How can youth organizations improve their learning?
demic development. A frequent pathway to improvement among youth organizations is to develop common standards for the learning environment that can be used to support more customized improvements in practice. In fact, 35 states have quality standards for afterschool programs, often developed by their state afterschool network. Underlying these quality improvement efforts is an emphasis on the creation of safe, engaging learning settings that support social, emotional, and cognitive skills. Understanding what engaging learning settings should look like, the youth development sector has a track record of using a continuous improvement approach to enhance them. Youth development programs use numerous evidence-based frameworks to assess, plan, and implement improvements in staff and manage- ment practices linked to program quality and youth outcomes. These frameworks build on the belief that, whatever the content, focused attention on the context leads to improvement in overall program quality, which increases staff and youth engagement, generates opportunities to practice and strengthen social and emotional skills, and ultimately contributes to formal program outcomes. The efforts of schools and youth development orga- nizations to align their continuous improvement processes and strengthen adult social and emotional learning practice will be more successful if they are built upon: • A shared vision, based on research, of what social and emotional learning practices and outcomes look like. • Assessments, trainings, materials, profes- sional supports, and reflection processes that reinforce practice improvement emphasizing social, emotional, cognitive, and academic skill development. • A system with staff trained and resourced to coordinate and manage the decisions, proce- dures, assessments, trainings, feedback cycles, and analyses needed to monitor and support continuous improvement cycles and ensure staff ownership and engagement.
Why is it important for young people to have a family?
The family is the central place where specific skills and competencies as well as broader attitudes and values are named and normed. Families play an active role in determining whether the other places where young people spend their learning time are places that reinforce and respect the lessons they are teaching at home. Among the most critical decisions families make are selecting schools and identifying opportunities to broaden their children’s learning and development. Their options, however, can be constrained by avail- ability, affordability, quality, cultural or developmental appropriateness, transportation, program hours, and neighborhood safety. For example, an examination of two national data sets found significant disparities in participation in afterschool and summer programs related to family income: youth from higher-income, more educated families were more likely to enroll and participate in more diverse activities than children from less advantaged families.v
What is needed to take full advantage of data-informed partnerships with youth development organizations?
To take full advantage of and be strategic about data-informed partnerships with youth development organizations, a dedicated staff person is needed.
What is the evidence base for how learning happens?
THE EVIDENCE BASE FOR HOW LEARNING HAPPENS: SKILLS, ATTITUDES, AND CHARACTER TRAITS FOR SUCCESS
