Resource: Positive Youth Development 101

Positive Youth Development 101 (Manual)

The Positive Youth Development 101 curriculum offers an orientation to the youth development approach for professionals new to the field of youth work. Use this free curriculum to provide professional development to new youth workers, supervisors and administrators, funders, and community volunteers.

The 10-hour curriculum is structured in five distinct sections, each of which may be presented as a stand-alone workshop, and can be downloaded and completed as a self-paced course:

1. Positive Youth Development: theoretical underpinnings and key principles of positive youth development; brief review of adolescent development
    
2. Positive Youth Outcomes: positive outcomes and strategies to build these outcomes
    
3. Youth Voice and Engagement: opportunities for meaningful engagement; overcoming adultism
    
4. Youth Development Programming: features of effective youth development settings and youth-centered learning approaches
    
5. Youth Worker Competencies: competency frameworks, boundaries, and ethical dilemmas

This training builds upon the New York State Advancing Youth Development (AYD) project, which provided professional development for youth workers from 1998 through 2011. Drawing on an experiential learning model, the curriculum uses a range of small and large group activities to allow for active participation, discussion, and reflection, in combination with short lectures, informative handouts, and web-based resources.

Download the curriculum, activity worksheets, handouts, and slides here