Creating a National Youth Development and Leadership

							 Creating a National Youth
Development and Leadership
     Research Agenda
           Rebecca Hare
 National Consortium on Leadership
      and Disability for Youth

                                     1
        Common Definitions

 First rule of YD&L: There are no common
  definitions!
 Youth Development and Leadership are two
  different concepts, but work in concert.
 Youth Development, while including youth
  leadership competencies, encompasses a broader,
  more holistic process of developmental growth
  that occurs during adolescence, one that will
  determine both adolescence and adult behavior.


                                                    2
            Youth Development &
                 Leadership
•   Youth Development is a process which prepares young people to meet the
    challenges of adolescence and adulthood through a coordinated, progressive
    series of activities and experiences which help them to become socially, morally,
    emotionally, physically, and cognitively competent. Positive youth development
    addresses the broader developmental needs of youth, in contrast to deficit-
    based models that focus solely on youth problems;

•    Youth Leadership is (1) “The ability to guide or direct others on a course of
    action, influence the opinion and behavior of other people, and show the way by
    going in advance” (Wehmeyer, Agran, & Hughes, 1998); and (2) “The ability to
    analyze one's own strengths and weaknesses, set personal and vocational
    goals, and have the self-esteem to carry them out. It includes the ability to
    identify community resources and use them, not only to live independently, but
    also to establish support networks to participate in community life and to affect
    positive social change” (Adolescent Employment Readiness Center, Children’s
    Hospital, n.d.).


                                                                                    3
                     Mentoring

• What’s mentoring? Mentoring is a trusting relationship,
  developed through a series of activities which brings
  together young people with caring individuals who can offer
  guidance, support, and encouragement. The goal of youth
  mentoring is to help youth grow and develop in a positive
  way. (NCWD/Y, 2004).
• Youth mentoring continues to garner praise and
  expand as a way to assist youth in navigating the
  sometimes difficult transition to adulthood
• As the field of mentoring has grown, so has the
  research base
• Very little available research regarding youth with
  disabilities in mentoring programs                          4
            Youth Voice

• “Youth Voice - The ideas, opinions,
  involvement, and initiatives of people
  considered to be “young.” These voices
  often go unheard and/or involvement of
  this group has often been marginalized.”
  (Points of Light Foundation, 2001)



                                         5
       Program Approaches and
               Styles
 Different systems, different terms
      Youth Driven
      Youth Led
      Youth Guided
      Youth Centered
 Common Competencies
    Forum for Youth Investment: 5 Areas of YD&L
           Learning
           Connecting
           Thriving
           Working
           Leading
                                                   6
     The Stars are Aligning

 White House Task Force on Disadvantaged
  Youth
 Federal Youth Coordination Act
 Blazing the Trail Summit
 Executive Order on Improving the
  Coordination and Effectiveness of Youth
  Programs

                                            7
        Where are the gaps?

• Employer and Youth Service Professional (YSP)
  preparation to work with youth with disabilities
  (including youth with mental health needs,
  significant disabilities, and youth on the Autism
  spectrum)
• Lack of agreement about what makes an effective
  youth development and leadership program?
• Youth Leadership Programs are not informed,
  prepared or engaged in recruiting and actually
  including youth with disabilities in their programs

                                                        8
               More gaps

 What is the value of gender, ethnicity, and
  disability specific programming works, and
  if so, how; and,
 Definitions and approaches to youth
  development and leadership are not
  consistent in their use inside of different
  programmatic areas across government.


                                                9
          Recommendations for
              Research
 Identify effective strategies used to support at-risk youth in
  participating in youth development and leadership programs
  and evaluate the application of these strategies for youth with
  disabilities;
 Evaluate the effect of mentoring on the preparation,
  employment, and career advancement of youth with
  disabilities;
 Identify effective data collection systems that include
  qualitative and quantitative outcome measures; (McKinley,
  R., and Thomas, G., 2006)
 Identify effective strategies of the use of youth driven
  research across multiple systems and examine (where present)
  the process by which the voice of youth with disabilities are
  effectively included; (Hare, R., and Richards, C., 2007)       10
      More Recommendations

 Identify the program components and best practices of
  successful mentoring and youth leadership programs, both
  mainstream/inclusion model, as well as disability-specific
  mentoring and leadership programs;
 Evaluate the inclusion of youth with disabilities in
  federally funded mentoring programs targeting all youth
  and “at-risk” youth; and,
 Identify and evaluate core competencies for youth service
  professionals and the results used to inform professional
  development policies, funding, and strategies.



                                                           11
         An ideal situation for
             collaboration
Youth with disabilities are impacted by so many
  different systems from pre K to employment,
  there’s great opportunities for multiple agencies to
  collaborate in research to improve outcomes.
• Dept. of Labor
• Dept. of Education
• Dept. of Health and Human Services
• Dept. of Justice


                                                     12