Youth and Healthy Communities

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Youth and Healthy Communities

• Presented by
• Cassandra Andersen
• for the
• Institute for Nonprofit Development

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The Historical Development of an Extended
Adolescence in the U.S.

• our understanding of "adolescence" is created by
  the historical context in which people move from
  childhood to adulthood

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The Study of Adolescence

• The study of child development in America emerged
  in the 1920s, followed by adolescent development
  in the 1930s. Initial study focused on juvenile
  delinquency and its causes. (deficit focused)
  Then research turned to how education and skill
  building influences development. (asset focused)

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Preindustrial Era

• Before industrialization, young people played an
  important economic role in the family and
  community. In the agrarian economy of the 16th
  and 17th centuries, children's labor contributed
  directly to the economic well-being of the
  family. Children were recognized as an economic
  asset they were brought into economic activity
  at an early age and often worked alongside
  adults.
• Youth was used to describe the period during
  which young people were no longer fully dependent
  on parents but were not yet in a position to set
  up their own households. Children from the age of
  12 were sent to live with other families in the
  community to learn occupations. Youth were away
  from home but still under adult supervision. This
  has been described as the "semi-independent
  youth status.

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Youth in Industrialized Society

• The relation of youth to adult society changed in
  the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a
  function of three interrelated trends a decline
  in the demand for child labor, an increased
  emphasis on education, and a transformation in
  the cultural view of children.

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Youth Employment Declines

• The declining demand for youth labor came from
  changes brought on by industrialization.
  Industrialization in the 19th century created new
  jobs for youth in the United States, but
  improvements in technology eventually reduced the
  demand for unskilled child labor. Immigration
  also provided an alternative source of unskilled
  labor. By the 20th century, industry no longer
  needed child and adolescent labor, and youth
  employment declined.

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Youth Education Expands
The decrease in jobs for youth was offset by an
increase in schooling. More family wealth in the
late 19th and early 20th century meant more
families could afford to send their children to
school. As farming opportunities decreased,
families encouraged their sons to pursue
education. American lower middle-class youth
began to pursue education as a means to upward
mobility. By the end of the 19th century, an
increasing number of American youth attended
secondary school rather than being immediately
absorbed into the adult work force.
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Historical Educational Developments

• In 1890 only about 5 of American youth ages
  14-17 were enrolled in school.
• By 1920 that number was up to 33.
• After WWII, this number continued growing to more
  than 70.
• By 1970, 90 of youth aged 14-17 were enrolled in
  school.
• Today it is fair to say that almost all youth
  14-17 are enrolled in high school.

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Cultural Shifts in America

• Also affecting young people was a cultural change
  in the view of youth. In the 18th-century
  children were seen as economic assets as well as
  objects of sentiment. Between the 1870s and the
  1930s children became defined in more sentimental
  Victorian terms. This sentimental view of
  children made their use for economic gain morally
  suspect. The cultural transformation gave
  momentum to child labor advocates that eventually
  excluded youth under 14 from paid work. Children
  and young adolescents were recast as emotionally
  priceless but economically useless.

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From Worker to Student

• The progressive exclusion of youth from adult
  work effectively segregated adolescents from
  adult society. The adolescent's status in the
  family also changed. Rather than contributing to
  family wealth, adolescents became an economic
  liability.

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Unintended Results

• Today instead of learning by observing adults at
  work, young people are encouraged to learn
  abstract skills in school. The abstract skills
  learned at school are not typically utilized in
  the unskilled part-time jobs many youth have. So
  studying may seem irrelevant to youth, reducing
  their motivation to learn in school. Also,
  inability to see the connection between academic
  success and future success may reduce their
  commitment to societal constructs and increase
  the likelihood of risky behaviors.

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What is Youth Development

• The Official MDPH Definition
• Our definitions

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MDPH has determined the following are six aspects
of the youth development approach
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1

• The youth development approach is youth centered.
• Focuses on young people as resources
• Youth have the capacity to contribute to their
  own, as well as others, learning and development

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2

• The youth development approach is founded in
  meaningful youth participation in ways that
  impact their development.
• Youth are engaged at multiple levels of programs,
  agencies and communities
• Adults are trained to work with youth in
  meaningful ways
• Youth should be provided with avenues for
  participation, such as making decisions and
  contributions, employment, and taking on
  challenging responsibilities

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3

• The youth development approach is asset-based,
  versus deficit-focused.

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4

• The youth development approach focuses on
  positive youth outcomes.
• Strives for a world where youth are fully
  prepared to live their lives and become fully
  prepared adults
• Youth should have opportunities to fully develop
  social skills, civic and cultural competencies,
  positive attitudes toward community and a strong
  sense of identity
• Youth development programs seek to attain program
  outcomes as well as positive youth outcomes

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5

• The youth development approach emphasizes and
  values caring relationships between youth and
  adults as a key mechanism for building success in
  youth and communities.
• Ongoing caring relationships provide supports for
  young people
• Caring relationships provide affirmation,
  guidance, and high expectations

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6

• The youth development approach involves the whole
  community.
• Youth services are an essential element of
  healthy communities
• Healthy communities offer places for young people
  to go, where they can learn and contribute
• Youth development professionals are specifically
  trained to implement the youth development
  approach
• Community members participate in the youth
  development approach as role models and as
  resources (both active and passive) for
  developing youth

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How do you define Youth Development?
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Youth Development

• Popular Models and Frameworks

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Communities That Care

• The mission is to build healthy communities
  through prevention science. The program provides
  communities with a process to mobilize the
  community, identify risk and protective factors,
  and develop a comprehensive prevention plan to
  promote positive youth development.

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Communities That Care
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Developmental Assets

• The Search Institutes Framework of 40
  Developmental Assets organized into categories of
  external and internal assets.
• Based on the developmental assets, this
  initiative seeks to motivate and equip
  individuals, organizations, and their leaders to
  join together in nurturing competent, caring, and
  responsible children and adolescents.

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Internal Asset CategoryPositive Identity
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Americas Promise

• The mission is to mobilize people from every
  sector of American life to build the character
  competence of our nations youth by fulfilling 5
  promises for young people
• Ongoing relationships with caring adults
• Safe places with structured activities
• Healthy start and future
• Marketable skills
• Opportunities for community service.

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Ready By 21 framework
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Ready By 21 framework

• The Big Picture Approach encourages leaders to
  start with developing common language that can be
  translated not only into vision and goal
  statements, but also into planning frameworks
  that provide a new youth-centered way of looking
  at information. Once they have learned this new
  way of thinking, they are able to take it into
  the basic steps of action planning taking aim,
  taking stock, targeting action and tracking
  progress but in a big picture way.
• In addition to looking at youth outcomes and
  community supports, the framework challenges
  leaders to assess their own change efforts are
  they and their partners employing the full range
  of strategies necessary to really make a
  difference? What strategies are missing? And what
  stakeholders?

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The Forum For Youth Investment Aids in Statewide
Planning Process

• The Massachusetts Youth Action Planning Team
  (APT) with the United Way of Massachusetts Bay
  and the Executive Office of Health and Human
  Services includes over 70 stakeholders
  representing advocacy groups, direct service
  organizations, foundations, government agencies,
  legislators and youth-led organizations.
• At the first retreat, Karen Pittman of the Forum
  and Brian Gallagher, the CEO of the United Way of
  America, spoke of the importance of integration
  among agencies in order to best prepare youth for
  college, work and life. Since October, APT
  members have been working diligently to develop
  comprehensive action strategies that will improve
  outcomes for all children and youth in
  Massachusetts.
• To learn more about the process in Massachusetts,
  visit their website http//www.inspire4life.org/y
  outh-planning-committee.

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The Science of Youth Development

• How do you measure it?

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Using Survey Data

• Communities That Care
• Developmental Assets
• Americas Promise

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The Ready by 21 Quality Counts initiative

• Is focused on improving the quality and reach of
  youth programs and strengthening local and state
  policies that guide resource allocation,
  accountability and workforce development. The
  initiative provides community, agency and elected
  leaders from select cities and states across the
  country with a bold challenge, an infusion of
  national and local momentum, and an accompanying
  suite of policy-building strategies and tools.
  Funding for this two-year initiative was provided
  by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the
  Atlantic Philanthropies.
• The Forum for Youth Investment is leading the
  initiative and, using its Ready by 21 framework,
  help communities engage stakeholders, assess
  leadership and program capacity, identify policy
  priorities and build momentum for quality
  improvement. The High/Scope Educational Research
  Foundations research-based quality improvement
  methodology is at the heart of the initiative,
  and participating sites also have access to the
  expertise of the AED National Training Institute
  for Community Youth Work in the areas of youth
  worker professional development and intermediary
  capacity building.

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Youth Program Assessment

• Youth Program Quality Assessment Developed by
  the High/Scope Educational Research Foundation

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Youth Worker Assessment

• Competency Assessment Observation Tool
  Developed by the National Collaboration for Youth
• This assessment tool accompanies the 10
  competencies for front-line youth workers adopted
  by members of the National Collaboration for
  Youth (available at http//www.nydic.org/nydic/doc
  uments/Competencies.pdf)
• The tool can be used by front-line youth workers,
  peers, mentors and coaches to provide examples of
  what each competency looks like and by
  supervisors to assess the level to which a youth
  worker has developed the competencies needed to
  work effectively with youth.

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Risk and Protective Factors

• How have risky behaviors changed over time?

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Teen Suicide

• Did rates of suicide increase or decrease between
  1950 and 1990?

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Teen Suicide

• Adolescent suicide in the United States increased
  dramatically over 50 years, quadrupling from 2.7
  per 100,000 in 1950 to 11.1 per 100,000 in 1990.

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Marijuana Use

• Did rates of Marijuana use increase or decrease
  between 1978 and 2006?

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Marijuana Use

• Reported use of marijuana by high school seniors
  during the past month in 1978 was 37 it has
  since declined to 18 in 2006

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Alcohol Use

• Did rates of Alcohol use increase or decrease
  between 1975 and 2006?

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Alcohol Use

• Reported use of alcohol by high school seniors
  during the past month in 1978 was 72 it has
  since declined to 44 in 2007

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Teen Pregnancy

• Did rates of pregnancy increase or decrease
  between 1990 and 2004?

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Teen Pregnancy

• The teen pregnancy rate dropped 38 from 1990 to
  2004

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Protective Factors

• What policies or institutions do you think
  changed to influence these behaviors?
• Suicide
• Teen Pregnancy
• Alcohol and Drug Use

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Adultism

• Adultism refers to behaviors and attitudes that
  are based on the assumption that adults are
  better than young people, and entitled to act
  upon them without their agreement. It is
  characterized by disrespect towards the
  intelligence, judgment, emotional life,
  leadership, or physical being of young people.

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Adultism Activity
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When important decisions need to be made as an
adult leader I will

• Make them myself
• Ask youth for input but decide on my own
• Involve youth in the decision making process

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When interviewing and hiring a new youth program
staff I will

• Do this by myself
• Ask youth for input but decide on my own
• Involve youth in the decision making process

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When creating youth programming budgets I will

• Do this by myself
• Ask youth for input but decide on my own
• Involve youth in the decision making process

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When selecting new youth group members I will

• Do this by myself
• Ask youth for input but decide on my own
• Involve youth in the decision making process

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When choosing a new youth program curriculum I
will

• Do this by myself
• Ask youth for input but decide on my own
• Involve youth in the decision making process

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Spectrum of Adult Attitudes
Youth Youth Youth as Objects as
Recipients as Resources Youth Engagement
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Youth as Objects

• An adult or group knows whats best for young
  people.
• Or the adult or group may decide they have a
  right to determine the circumstances under which
  the young people will exist.
• The young person being viewed and treated as an
  object usually knows it.

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Youth as Recipients

• The person or group believes they know what is
  best for the young person, but they give the
  youth the opportunity to participate in decision
  making because it will be good for him/her or
  group.
• The young person is supposed to receive the
  benefits of what the person gives to them.

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Youth as Resources

• Attitude of respect by the adult or group toward
  what the young people can contribute.
• This attitude and the behaviors can be closely
  associated with matters of great concern
  self-esteem and productivity.

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Resources on Youth Development

• Americas Promise http//www.americaspromise.org/
  
• National Clearinghouse on Families and Youth
  http//www.ncfy.com/
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning
  and Evaluation http//aspe.os.dhhs.gov/hsp/Positi
  veYouthDev99/\
• American Youth Policy Forum http//www.aypf.org/
• National Youth Development Information Center
  http//www.nydic.org/
• The Forum for Youth Investment
  http//www.forumforyouthinvestment.org/
• The Search Institute http//www.search-institute.
  org/

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Data Sources

• www.monitoringthefuture.org
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  National Center for Health Statistics
• Department of Justice Bureau of Justice
  Statistics
• Cultural, Historical, and Subcultural Contexts of
  Adolescence Implications for Health and
  Development by Lisa J. Crockett
• Measuring Youth Program Quality A Guide to
  Assessment Tools by Nicole Yohalem and Alicia
  Wilson-Ahlstrom with Sean Fischer and Marybeth
  Shinn

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Thank You!