Youth Development Core Competencies for Personal and Community Change

An intensive professional development experience provided by the Michigan State University Extension Community Youth Development Area of Expertise

Times are tough, change is on the horizon and we want to help. It's never been more important to strengthen our skills as youth development professionals and educators! The Youth Development Core Competencies for Personal and Community Change series can assist you in building your capacities and better position you to work in partnership with others within the organization – and across your community. Recognizing these challenging times, we are doing all that we can to reduce costs in order to bring this outstanding professional development opportunity to you at a significant discount! See more details below.

Are you looking for ways to…

 Deepen your knowledge about youth development issues?

 Strengthen your role as a leader and educator around youth issues?

 Bring young people and adults together to work on important issues within your community?

What is the Youth Development Core Competencies series?

Youth development is a growing field across the United States. As youth development continues to grow as a valued profession, youth workers with a variety of skills and knowledge levels are engaged in this work and may need to enhance their skills and knowledge around youth development issues. The five-day Youth Development Core Competencies for Personal and Community Change (YDCC) series was designed to help address the need for professional development in this area.

YDCC is designed for MSU Extension staff members interested in deepening and enhancing their roles as youth development professionals within their communities. MSU Extension participants in the YDCC learning series are encouraged to identify a community partner who is also engaged in youth work as a co-learner in the experience. Working together, they would explore ways to provide YDCC-related education to others within their community and to work with local youth and adults to create positive community change. Partners can include staff or volunteers from schools, health or social services agencies, afterschool programs, other youth organizations or the faith community. A partner could be someone with whom an MSUE staff member currently has a working relationship, or it could be someone with whom a staff member is interested in building a deeper partnership. Although YDCC participants are encouraged to attend in teams of two (one MSUE staff member and one community partner), this is not required, and anyone is welcome to attend.

During the YDCC experience, participants will work together to:

• Deepen their understanding of youth-related issues.
• Develop core competencies, apply learning to their youth work and explore resources for extending learning.
• Gain knowledge, skills and resources to position themselves as resources and educators around youth development within their communities and around using community youth development approaches with young people and adults around critical community issues.
• Explore funding possibilities for putting these kinds of efforts into practice within their communities.

The intensive five-day series is framed within five of the six domains of the national 4-H Professional Research, Knowledge and Competencies (4HPRKC) taxonomy. 4HPRKC, which was designed to provide the academic base that supports youth development practice within 4-H work, includes these domains: Youth Development, Youth Program Development, Equity/Access/Opportunity, Partnerships and Organizational Systems. Each of these domains includes several areas of content – as shown in the YDCC Content Chart. The YDCC content and process are drawn from a variety of resources, including findings from youth development, community youth development and social justice youth development research, along with the voices of MSU Extension staff, partners, MSU faculty and young people involved in this work. YDCC core faculty members include Janet Olsen, Karen Pace and Dionardo Pizaña. Guest faculty from MSU Extension and other organizations are also involved. Throughout the training, the YDCC faculty engage participants in multiple opportunities for reflection and discussion.

Need more reasons to consider attending YDCC? Take a look at the “Top Ten Reasons for Taking Part in YDCC.”

What do participants say about the YDCC experience?

The inaugural 2008 YDCC experience was highly rated by the MSU Extension staff members and community partners who attended. One Extension professional commented, “YDCC is a transforming experience that I would recommend for all new, mid-career and tenured staff. It was one of the best trainings I have experienced in my 30 years with Extension – and was a unique training opportunity to attend with a local partner.” Five months after YDCC was offered, one of the community partners who attended shared in an e-mail, “Your conference still continues to blow my mind and excite and inspire me to explore! Thank you so much for the wonderful experience.”

View a brief videotape featuring MSUE staff sharing their feedback about the YDCC experience:

When and where will YDCC next be offered?

The Youth Development Core Competencies for Personal and Community Change will take place on March 16 to 18, and April 14 to 15, 2010, at Kettunen Center in Tustin, Michigan. Those planning to participate in YDCC must commit to attending all five days of the series.

What’s the cost?

The special one-time-only discounted cost of YDCC is $400 (originally $650) for each MSUE participant and community partner. This fee covers lodging, meals, breaks and workshop materials.

How do I register for YDCC?

To register, go to http://web2.msue.msu.edu/inservice/coursetitle.cfm and click on session 6749. Note that the registration deadline for YDCC is January 29, 2010.

To learn more about YDCC, contact: