Several times a year, CNYD invites members of the youth development community to come together and hear a cutting-edge presentation by a policy-maker, researcher, exceptional youth worker, young person or community leader as part of the CNYD Speaker's Forum series. Following each presentation, lively dialogue ensues as the community analyzes, challenges and learns about different approaches and perspectives on working with youth.

Descriptions of past Speaker's Forums are presented below. Some listings include references to websites, articles or other publications relevant to each topic.

For information about our upcoming Speaker's Forums, please use the link below.

Speaker's Forums

Speaker's Forum - November 14, 2002
Equity and Access in After School Programs

Overview:

With support from the C.S. Mott Foundation, California Tomorrow conducted a two-year national study of equity, access and diversity issues in the expanding arena of after school and youth programs. Their research included an examination of program, initiative, and policy design, as well as advocacy, evaluation and training efforts to identify the possibilities and challenges for improving educational and social outcomes among underserved youth and communities.

Speakers:

Dr. Amy Scharf and Lisette Lopez, California Tomorrow. Dr. Amy Scharf has been an educator and field researcher on youth and diversity issues for 15 years. Ms. Lisette López has conducted extensive research, advocacy and analysis on community-based education and equity-related policy both in the U.S. and overseas.

California Tomorrow is a non-profit research, technical assistance and advocacy organization, based in Oakland, CA, working to help build a strong, equitable and fair multiracial, multicultural and multilingual society.

To order a copy of Moving Toward Equity and Access in After School Programs: A Review of the Literature go to www.californiatomorrow.org

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Speaker's Forum - January 16, 2003
Youth-led Organizations Panel

Overview:

The panel discussed their work and ideas to increase youth leadership. Panel topics included how to increase youth participation, and successful models of youth and adult partnerships. Participants were given an opportunity to discuss with their colleagues and the panel members what they could be doing to increase youth participation in their programs or address a challenge they are facing in doing so.

Panel Members:

Nestor Adame and Caitlyn Roberts, HOME / Bay Area School of Enterprise Jesse Cottrell, San Francisco Youth Commission
La Tanya Johnson, Center for Young Women's Development

Moderated by:

Stephanie Dunlap, Center for Young Women's Development

For more information about the representative organizations, please visit their websites:

Center for Young Women's Development
www.cywd.org

HOME/ Bay Area School of Enterprise
www.homeproject.org

San Francisco Youth Commission
www.sfgov.org/site/youth_commission_index.asp

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Speaker's Forum - March 6, 2003
Findings and Implications for the Field
New Report: Community Programs to Promote Youth Development

Overview:

Milbrey McLaughlin reviewed the key findings of the National Research Council's recently released report, Community Programs to Promote Youth Development, and engaged in a discussion of its' implications for youth workers, program directors, organizational leaders, and volunteers working with youth.

Speaker:

Milbrey McLaughlin is the David Jacks Professor of Education and Public Policy at Stanford University and participated as a member of the committee of national adolescent researchers for this study. Professor McLaughlin is also the Executive Director of the John Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities, a partnership between Stanford University and Bay Area communities to build new practices, knowledge and capacity for youth development and learning.

Use this link to find out more about a CNYD presentation package that provides an overview of the report and its highlights.

Presentation Packages

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Speaker's Forum - May 20, 2003
Community Youth Development: A Social Justice Framework

Overview:

Shawn Ginwright and Taj James are advocates for addressing how urban youth navigate through oppressive forces that impact them and their communities. They argue that in addition to individuals, families, and communities, the youth development model needs to examine the larger complex social, economic, and political forces that effect urban youth. Keeping in mind the larger oppressive forces provides a better idea of how youth navigate and a better base for successful strategies and practices for youth participation and community involvement.

Speakers:

Shawn Ginwright, Ph.D. and Taj James

Speakers:

Dr. Shawn Ginwright is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Ethnic Studies at Santa Clara University. He teaches a variety of courses ranging from Urban Sociology and Black Social Movements to Sociology of Deviance and Race, Class and Culture in Film. Dr. Ginwright's research examines the ways in which youth in urban communities respond to the constraints of poverty. Specifically, he studies youth both inside and outside of school environments to understand how support systems meet their needs. He is currently working on the Urban Youth Project where he looks at youth identity and the ways in which public policy is formulated on misperceptions of urban youth of color.

In 1989, Dr. Ginwright co-founded Leadership Excellence Inc. to train African American youth to think critically about root causes of social inequality and provide them with hands-on organizing and leadership activities to address pressing social and community problems. He is the former Executive Director of this community-based organization and he continues to work with youth, parents, schools and community-based organizations and local, state and national offices on urban youth related issues.

Taj James is the Executive Director of the Movement Strategy Center, an intermediary organization that engages youth and adults across issues and regions through a collective visioning and mapping process that encourages collaboration and joint strategizing in order to develop stronger, more effective movements for democracy, equity, and social change. Taj has served on numerous advisory boards, including that of LISTEN, Inc., We Interrupt This Message, The Praxis Project, Youth United for Community Action (YUCA), the Gay-Straight Alliance Network and the California Fund for Youth Organizing. He has published numerous articles on youth organizing and empowerment. Taj was the recipient of a Next Generation Leadership fellowship from the Rockefeller Foundation and was named a "Local Hero" by the San Francisco Bay Guardian.

From Assets to Agents of Change: Social Justice, Organizing, and Youth Development by Taj James and Shawn Ginwright, Winter 2002 edition of New Directions for Youth Development, can be ordered on line from Jossey-Bass Publishers.

For additional resources please visit the Movement Strategy Center's website: www.movementstrategy.org

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