YDev Times

Our programming is broken into three phases: Core, Immersion, and Collective   Core works with youth to tell their story and deeply listen to others stories. Youth place their multiple identities and communities under the microscope and examine their role and impact in creating a world they want to live. Focused on emotional development and identity in youth leadership. Immersion explores facilitation and peer education. Focused on social development, youth discover what strengths they bring to a group. Youth design and facilitate workshops on student centered learning and community health for their peers and for adults working with youth. These workshops aim to educate and build mutual respect. Collective programming celebrates legacy and stewardship through a member owned model. Youth sit on the Board of Directors, assist in fundraising efforts, and begin to create change at the policy level. During this phase youth make meaningful links between passion and career. Y...

Throughout my life, I have always had the desire to help others. I would often help my mom by babysitting my sister, I would help my dad by cleaning up the house, I would volunteer to clean up parks or help at a retirement home, or I would help set up dinner for the holidays. Naturally, this desire helped shape my career path, by the time I entered college I knew that I wanted to be a teacher or social worker. While searching for a college I kept reflecting upon my first job, which was working at an after school program called C.O.Z. (Child Opportunity Zone). I realized how much I truly enjoyed working there and interacting with the children. During this time, I also began to second guess weather or not teaching was the correct choice for me. While visiting Rhode Island College I came across a booth that was set up on accepted students day. It was full of people who declared a major in Youth Development, I found their recounts of the me major very interesting but I was worried about...

Throughout my childhood, I found myself in three youth spaces. I was a YMCA member, I went to school, and I was in a Photography club for a short while. In all of these spaces play was seen as a form of entertainment and as young student, I often had to receive permission to engage in it. In his article Shall We Play, Jenkins references this. He states that this ideology that is often reinforced in modern school systems is in fact harmful to students because play is a form of learning. By reinforcing this idea of permission, children may not realize when  it is appropriate to play and effectively let themselves explore, take risks, and learn at their own pace. As youth workers we must assure youth that play will not yield negative consequences and encourage them to engage. As an adult, I have also worked in many youth spaces; such as an after school program called C.O.Z, a field experiences in Frank D. Spaziano Elementary School and Anna Mccabe Elementary School.  Both the C.O...

In her article titled, Framing Youth, Bogad explores the socially constructed concepts surrounding adolescents today. Due to the history surrounding the social construction of teenage hood and  main stream media today, youth are often considered to be hormone driven, risk takers, and immature. The chapter describes that when the term Adolescents was accepted as scientific category by experts, youth were characterized as  “...awkward, vulnerable creatures, innocent victims of raging hormones, rampant insecurity, and fervent idealism (which often bordered on arrogance), characterizations that were apparently linked to puberty and a lack of experience” Palladino (1996). The problem with this characterization is that it provides no distinction of any of the teenagers it categorizes. Youth are lumped into one big group and viewed as less capable, intelligent, and mature. They are effectively outcast-ed , with no hope of redemption until the day of the eighteenth birthday ...

Having a Profession in Youth Development is often compared to teaching or at times even social work. While there are many similarities, a profession in youth development is comprised of many unique differences. In the first chapter of the book mentioned above, the authors identify seven key distinctions. The first is that youth workers are not confined to traditional school outlines and procedures, leaving them free to provide a very informal education. Youth workers will often utilize group activities and games to conduct educational lessons. For example, when I wanted to teach a group of sixth grade girls about nutrition, I developed a series of games that allowed them to have fun, build communication and team work skills, and learn the materials. I took it one step further by utilizing the school environment in a different manner, like using the oven in the Staff’s break room to make treats such as fruit pies and English muffin pizzas. As a Youth Development professional, our...