December 2012

YDI Maroon Logo 

Letter from the Executive Committee
  
The Youth Development Initiative has enjoyed a good fall. As we head towards the holiday period at the end of the month we are reminded of all of the wonderful people we have contact with through our website publications, grant projects, and workshops and conferences. November was a busy month with opportunities to speak at a TRAPS regional conference in San Antonio, the Central Texas Afterschool Network training conference in Austin, and the Strengthening Youth and Families Conference in San Antonio. Our faculty and graduate students look forward to other opportunities to interact with practitioners in the coming months. If there is a way we can be of service, please let us know by emailing us at ydi@ag.tamu.edu.

In addition, we have been working on three YDI projects, including a grant from the Texas State Department of Health Services to identify best practices at their Texas Health Adolescent Initiative sites; a grant from TXPOST to create a database of after-school programs in the state; and a project with CASE in Houston to identify the various attitudes and values a variety of stakeholders in Houston hold regarding the purpose, benefits and structure of after-school programs. These projects have kept us busy, but we are excited by potential value of the work we are doing with these various funders. If there are ways that we might be of service to your organization, we'd be happy to talk.

Finally, we are moving forward with the planning of the State YDI conference in April. We are again involving TXPOST in our conference and value their involvement as a partner. We are strongly encouraging students to attend and utilize the conference as a networking tool. Watch for more news on our website and through our newsletters about registration and the program. We think we will have an exciting program and look forward to seeing many of you there.

December is a great time to celebrate our programs, our relationships, our colleagues, and the individuals we serve. We wish everyone a great holiday period.

Peter Witt
Coordinator YDI
Building Partnerships for Community Youth Development
  
 Dr. Edwards presents a video on the topic of Building Partnerships for Community Youth Development. Be sure to catch Part One and Part Two for the complete synopsis.  
Conference Update
  
Once the application to present has passed we will be able to confirm topics and speakers that will be presenting at our conference. This is an exciting time in the planning process as we work to put together the best event possible for youth development practitioners.  Camp Allen Resort and Conference Center is currently working with us to set up a registration link with all pricing categories. This information will be sent out in mid-December so early registration can begin. This flyer explains how you can save money by registering early. We hope you are as excited as we are for the 4th Annual Sequor YDI Conference! 
Obesity YouTube
 
Check out this new resource with facts about obesity and youth development as presented by Tori Schwarzlose.  
External Information
 
  

Breaking Barriers is a cooperative project between the UC Berkeley Adventure Risk Challenge Program, the National Park Service (NPS) and Nature Bridge, designed to help reduce obstacles to engaging youth in the outdoors.   Breaking Barriers seeks to address the cultural and socio-economic barriers to participation in the outdoors by identifying opportunities to align outdoor programs with the needs and concerns of diverse Central Valley communities.

 

 

 

Webinar on Managing Performance in Youth

 Civic Engagement Programs

 

Cost: FREE

Date & Time
Tuesday, December 11, 2012, 3:00-4:00pm EST

Speakers will be available for questions until 4:30 pm

Registration Link

 

Learn how newly released PerformWell content can help civic engagement programs for youth manage program performance and measure outcomes. Teresa Derrick-Mills, who led the development of this new PerformWell content, will address questions like: What are meaningful outcomes for youth civic engagement programs? What are good tools to measure them? Which aspects of service delivery should be managed to make sure the program is on track to producing desired outcomes? Dr. Derrick-Mills is joined by Zenub Kakli, who will speak to how the United Teen Equality Center manages performance in practice. Dr. Derrick-Mills and Dr. Kakli will answer questions from the audience.

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Witt Christmas 
Peter Witt
Sequor YDI Coordinator
Rob Christmas
Rob Henderson
Graduate Research Assistant   
tori Christmas 
Tori Schwarzlose
Graduate Research Assistant