Getting down to business: defining competencies for entry-level youth workers

Social change at the local level: A psychobiography of Khali Sweeney from Detroit's downtown boxing gym

OBJECTIVE

This psychobiography analyzes the life of Khali Sweeney from Detroit's Downtown Boxing Gym to understand his motivation for and methods as a social change agent. In doing so, the project also considers how to prepare the next generation of youth development leaders as social change agents.

METHOD

We conducted a nine-step psychobiography based on recommendations from established psychobiographical methods. Using a team-based, thematic analysis approach we analyzed contextual, first-, second-, and third- person data from the perspective of Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory (PVEST).

RESULTS

Results suggest Khali is an effective social change agent due to five interrelated factors. Analyzing Khali's life through the lens of PVEST also revealed his experiences resulted in two realizations central to him becoming a social change agent: the people and services that are supposed to serve youth at times do not, and; individuals like him can step up to meet youth needs.

CONCLUSIONS

Results point to several important lessons related to transformational leadership theory that can enable YDP leaders to serve as social change agents.

Influence of program staff on quality of relationships in a community-based youth mentoring program

In many mentoring programs, mentor-youth pairs have the latitude to engage in a wide range of activities together across varying community settings. Within this context, program staff are tasked with supporting development of high-quality relationships between mentors and youth. To date, however, this role of program staff has been largely overlooked in research. The current study investigates potential contributions of program staff to mentoring relationships in the Big Brothers Big Sisters community-based mentoring program over their first 15 months of relationship development with a sample of 450 mentor-youth pairs that were supported by 76 program staff across 10 agencies. Two-level analyses (mentoring relationships nested within program staff) examined characteristics and approaches of program staff as prospective predictors of several facets of mentoring relationship quality as reported by youth: closeness, help with coping, youth-centeredness, growth orientation, and attachment. Staff-reported work engagement and emphasis on adherence to program guidelines as well as supervisor-rated staff competence predicted more favorable mentoring relationship quality. By contrast, a nondirective approach to supporting mentors, as reported by staff, predicted lower relationship quality. These findings suggest that further investigation of program staff influences on mentoring relationship development could be fruitful and ultimately provide a basis for enhancing program effectiveness.

Training Needs of Peer and Non-Peer Transition Service Providers: Results of a National Survey

Participatory action research processes guided a national online survey of service providers working with transition age youth with mental health challenges. The survey investigated transition service providers' ratings of the importance of competencies and skills, self-assessed need for training in these competencies and skills, their preferred training modalities, and obstacles to engaging in training. The 254 participants identified trauma-informed care, understanding youth culture, promoting natural supports, and using culturally responsive practices as most important training needs. Age, years in current job, years in transition work, and race/ethnicity predicted training needs regarding some competencies and skills. Peer providers expressed preferences for young adult-led training. Qualitative responses highlighted training needs for supporting specific underserved populations: youth from communities of color, LGBTQ youth, and those with co-occurring disorders. Results may guide future training initiatives for peer support and non-peer support providers and workforce development initiatives designed to improve behavioral health services for young people.

Engaging underrepresented youth populations in community youth development: tapping social capital as a critical resource

For youth who are the most vulnerable to challenging community conditions, more limited opportunities, and poor health, educational and economic trajectories derive especially strong benefits from engagement in community youth development efforts. Although communities can benefit in powerful ways from the knowledge and insight of these youth populations, the experiences of vulnerable youth are often underrepresented in planning and decision making. This article draws on lessons learned from two communities that successfully engaged such youth in a community change initiative over four years. Key elements in creating the types of safe, supportive, and meaningful settings that promote young people's ongoing participation and leadership were intentionality and commitment; local knowledge of vulnerable populations; adult allies with key capacities; meaningful focus; resources for intensive outreach, relationship building, and youth support; and continuity of key adults. Each of these elements is described, identifying the ways they build on often underrecognized forms of social capital and offering lessons learned about engaging underserved youth populations in community youth development.

A competency-based approach to preparing staff as recreation and youth development leaders

Youth development professionals and parks and recreation professionals often are charged with providing services to youth. However, the approach of each can be quite different as recreation is a primary focus for recreation professionals and part of many services offered by youth development specialists. Despite the differences, these two groups of professionals can learn a great deal from each other. This article examines youth development and staff training with examples from the field and suggests how youth development professionals can learn from recreation professionals and vice versa. It suggests that parks and recreation professionals can strengthen degree programs, accreditation, certification, and continuing education by incorporating specific youth development competencies established by the National Collaboration for Youth. For their part, youth development professionals can learn from parks and recreation professionals how to enhance recreation programming as part of their services by gaining an understanding of program design, program and activity leadership, and administrative practices. With much debate over whether more education or more experience is a better path for those working with youth, the authors suggest that a combination of both will adhere to the quality of staff. Staff gain further knowledge and skill from academic preparation at the undergraduate and graduate levels, field-based training through jobs and internships, and continuing education courses specializing in youth development competencies and recreation-based competencies set within a youth development environment.

A Comparative Analysis of Competency Frameworks for Youth Workers in the Out-of-School Time Field

Research suggests that the quality of out-of-school time (OST) programs is related to positive youth outcomes and skilled staff are a critical component of high quality programming. This descriptive case study of competency frameworks for youth workers in the OST field demonstrates how experts and practitioners characterize a skilled youth worker. A comparative analysis of 11 competency frameworks is conducted to identify a set of common core competencies. A set of 12 competency areas that are shared by existing frameworks used in the OST field are identified. The age of youth being served, descriptions of mastery for each competency area, an emphasis on developing mid-level managers, and incorporating research emerge as factors that should be addressed in future competency frameworks.