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