The YouthBuild Story

1
The YouthBuild Story
2
Introduction to YouthBuild

• A Comprehensive Youth and Community Development
  Program

3
Learning Objectives

• Program components and qualities
• Centrality of Leadership Development
• Program culture
• Sample schedules
• Key factors for success
• Your questions
• Not about contract issues, fundraising, staff
  building, or DOL performance measures

4
The Basics of YouthBuild

• Purpose
• Components
• Qualities
• Outcomes

5
Purpose of YouthBuild
To unleash the positive energy of unemployed,
young adults to rebuild their communities and
their own lives with a commitment to work,
education, responsibility and family.
6
DOL YouthBuild

• DOLs Shared Youth Vision for YouthBuild
  Preserve the core of the YouthBuild model,
  including leadership and personal development,
  and
• Promote post-secondary education
• Place graduates in high growth, high demand, high
  income careers
• Work cooperatively across federal, state, and
  local government
• Commit to results and impact

7
Benchmarks of Graduate Success

• Pursuing post secondary education
• Building towards or maintaining a well-paying
• and satisfying career
• Creating a positive personal and social support
  network
• Engaging in community affairs
• Caring for emotional and physical health
• Building financial assets

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• 5 components

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Program Qualities
Respect
Power
Protection
Development
Firm Challenge
Meaningful Work
High Standards
Teaching of Skills
Inspiring Role Models
Appreciation of Diversity
Awareness of Current Issues
Path to Opportunity
Social Activities
Family-like Support
Agency Concern About Changing Conditions
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YouthBuild Outcomes

• 77 Average attendance
• 68 Average graduation rate
• 71 Average placement rate of graduates
• 8.79 Average graduate wage
• 17,000 Units of housing built
• 76,000 graduates
• 8,000 young people now in YouthBuild
• 226 YouthBuild programs 96 DOL

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Changes in 900 Graduates Before and up to 7 yrs
after YouthBuild

• Used marijuana 65 reduction
• Used alcohol 43 reduction
• Used hard drugs 78 reduction
• Sold hard drugs 75 reduction
• Arrested 53 reduction
• What age did you think youd live to?
• 32 year average gain in life expectancy after
  YouthBuild!

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Civic Engagement

• 68.1 Registered to vote
• 47.9 Participated in a community org. or did
  volunteer work
• 46.5 Voted in one or more elections
• 14.2 Taken on a leadership role by serving on
  a community council or board
• 7.3 Got involved in political effort or
  electoral campaign
• 1.3 Ran for office

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Attitudes and Feelings

• Determination to succeed 69.0
• Gratitude towards people who
• have helped me 68.7
• Pride in what I have known 61.4
• Self-confidence 57.5
• Joy and happiness 50.4
• Fear of failure 18.5
• Resentment towards system that keeps
• me and my family poor no matter how
• hard we try 14.9
• Fear of violence 8.6
• Self-doubt 8.5
• Shame or guilt 6.8
• Inferiority 6.6

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Leadership DevelopmentatYouthBuild
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Good Leadershipis taking responsibility to make
surethings go right for my
Life
Family
Program
Community
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Three Parts to Leadership Development

• Personal
• Development

LD Skills Knowledge
Chances To Practice Leadership
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Key Ideas about Leadership

• ? Its necessary
• ? Its natural
• ? Its about taking responsibility
• ?There is an infinite need for good leaders

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Benefits of Leadership Development
For the INDIVIDUAL young person

• ? strengthened self-confidence
• ? increased skills
• ? increased knowledge
• ? counter feelings of powerlessness
• ? wider doors open

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Benefits of Leadership Development
For the PROGRAM

• ? better program decisions when informed by young
  people
• ? more participant buy-in
• ? improves attendance and retention
• ? brings positive public attention to program,
  leading to more support

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Benefits of Leadership Development
For the COMMUNITY

• ? participants give back to the community
• ? young leaders become positive force
• ? youth become more engaged in community affairs

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Elements of a Leadership Development Program

• 1. Desired outcomes, skills competencies
• 2. Staff attitudes, hiring, training
• 3. LD within each program component
• 4. Youth involvement in decision making
• 5. LD trainings and workshops
• 6. LD experiences and opportunities
• 7. Leadership opportunities after graduation
• 8. Measuring and tracking leadership skills

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Obstacles to Youth Leadership Development
? Lack of vision, goals for youth as partners ?
Lack of agency, director, staff support for LD ?
Viewing young people as clients, needing to be
fixed ? Insufficient staff development for LD ?
Lack of will or skill to share power ? Too much
willingness to share power ? Disrespectful
attitudes
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Ways to Foster Youth Leadership in our Programs

• ?Examine agencys views about youth
• ?Emphasize respect for young people
• ?Shift youth/adult power dynamic
• ?Do staff training on youth leadership
  development
• ?Set leadership goals and objectives
• ?Ask youth opinions about everything
• ?Set up youth advisory group, act on their advice
• ?Look for opportunities for youth to practice
  leadership-- jobs, media, fundraising, etc.

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Your Vision for LD?

• If Leadership Development was really happening at
  your YouthBuild program, what would it look like?
  
• What leadership skills, behaviors, attitudes and
  self-concept would young people leave your
  program with?

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Program Operations

• Culture
• Staffing
• Schedule
• What to watch
• Partnerships

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Program Culture

• Culture is everything everything speaks
• Culture reflects your core program values
• How does your design and culture hinder or
  promote your core values
• Research on high achieving YBs strong culture
• Create it deliberately and consciously

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The Environment for Success

• Structure clear rules, clear roles, a tight
  schedule, measurable objectives, reliable
  systems, traditions
• Purpose personal goals, program goals, public
  service, construction, transformation,
  advancement
• Authenticity real work, real success, real
  consequences in discipline, honesty, compassion
• Intensity lots of success, fast pace, emotions
  expressed, hard physical work, big issues
  discussed, celebrations, lots of love

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Key Factors in Hiring Staff

• Commitment to youth development
• Diversity of gender, race, expertise, class,
  temperament, training, life experience, etc.
• Self awareness and self development
• Technical expertise skills
• Team orientation
• Positive attitude
• Leader
• Respect for Young People

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Sample Program Schedules

• Program meets twice a day to reconnect
• Note points of program integration
• Staff planning and meeting time
• Dont schedule young people for 40 hours or your
  staff always works overtime

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Managers Chain of Influence

• Meeting program objectives depends on,
• Productivity of the young people, which depends
  on,
• Effectiveness of the staff, which depends on,
• Supervision and support from a manager, which
  depends on,
• Resources from the organization.

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What to do

• Schedule planning and weekly staff meetings
• Teach and use group facilitation
• Teach and use conflict management
• Post master calendar
• Be fair and firm to all
• Get an accountant and insurance
• Track attendance
• Build a home

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What to Watch-Key Leverage Points

• Nature and quality of relationships between
  staff and students
• Attendance/ discipline
• Program culture
• Planning and coordination
• Leadership development
• Construction progress
• Personal development of students
• Team cohesion
• Placement activity
• DOL objectives

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Assembling Partnerships to Support Program
Activities

• Review list of typical program functions and
  activities
• Check off all program resources provided by the
  lead agency
• Write in partner and supporting agencies that
  will provide additional resources
• Identify gaps in program resources
• Collect MOAs and letters of commitment

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Your Goal

• Foster an environment that supports and
• facilitates youth transformation while
• meeting DOL objectives

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YouthBuild Principles

• Respectful, positive, caring, collaborative
  relationships between adults and youth
• In a safe supportive learning environment
• Mastering new skills, knowledge and attitudes for
  school, work, family, and leadership
• Building tangible community assets in service to
  others in need
• Creating hope and opportunity for ones future

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The YouthBuild Story
Theres a lot of love in YouthBuild, and some
day were going to spread it around the world.
Victor Ortiz, age 17, Youth Action Program (1981)
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YouthBuild Participants

• 8,000 Enrollees/Year
• 16-24 Year Old
• 72 Young Men
• 48 African American
• 23 Latino
• 21 White
• 2 Asian American
• 3 Native American

• 19.3 Average Age
• 90 Very Low Income
• 26 Homeless prior to enrollment
• 31 Parenting
• 30 Adjudicated
• 27 Convicted of a felony
• 87 Need GED or Diploma
• 7th gr. Average incoming reading level

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Key Factors for Success

• Fidelity to the model
• Stable funding and non-cash resources
• Skillful executive leader
• Effective collaboration between agencies
• Staff team with commitment and expertise
• Effective recruitment and screening of youth
• Effective outplacement in schools or jobs

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The Staff

• Culturally diverse (race, class, gender, sexual
  orientation)
• Expertise (skills, knowledge, creed.)
• Team orientation
• Tough but flexible
• Respect for young people
• Positive attitude / Fun
• Self awareness/ openness

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Teams

• Culturally competent
• Shared goals/ clear objectives
• Defined roles/ accountability
• Effective meeting process
• Decision making process
• Conflict management
• Willing to change
• Celebrate success

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Essential Elements

• Profound respect for intelligence of youth
• Youth governance
• Protection from harm
• Meaningful work
• Patience
• Teach real skills
• Positive values
• Firm, loving challenge to stop self destruction

• Family-like support
• High expectations
• Inspired, adult role models
• Cultural awareness
• Global awareness
• Path to the future
• Agency commitment to social change
• Fun