• a working knowledge of youth development principles and practice that can be applied on the job
  
  
• an array of new skills for helping young people grow and thrive
  
  
• a forum for exchange and reflection with colleagues
  
  
• an opportunity to develop improvement strategies for individual and agencies practices
  
  

Each Learning Network consists of ten sessions with two staff people participating from each of 15-20 agencies. Organization leaders attend the initial and final sessions as well. Participants deepen their understanding of and commitment to youth development vision, values, and principles. By broadening their skills and sharing knowledge, participants enhance their ability to build safe and engaging environments that encourage the healthy development of young people.

Questions & Answers about the Youth Development Learning Network:

1. What is the Youth Development Learning Network?
2. What is the philosophy behind the Learning Network?
3. Who comes to the Network?
4. What happens in Learning Network sessions?
5. What is coaching?
6. What does my agency gain as a result of participating in the Learning Network?
7. What are my agency's commitments to the Learning Network?
8. Is there a fee for the Learning Network?
9. How do I know if my agency should enroll in a Learning Network?
10. Can I talk to past participants?
11. What's my next step to find out more?

1. What is the Youth Development Learning Network?

The Youth Development Learning Network (YDLN) is designed to bring youth workers together to explore the essential elements of their work that make a difference in young people's lives. The program is part of the national Building Exemplary Systems of Training for Youth Workers Initiative (B.E.S.T.) funded by the DeWitt Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund. The Community Network for Youth Development was one of several organizations across the country selected to participate in the Initiative. Since its inception in 1997, over 120 youth-serving agencies in the Bay Area have participated in the YDLN.

The Learning Network provides participants with an intensive learning environment in which to explore, exchange and reflect on developmental practices in youth development programs. Youth workers, agency leaders and funders are invited to explore their individual and collective roles in providing supports and opportunities for the young people they serve.

Throughout the Learning Network process, we also explore strategies that enable organizations to assess their effectiveness and demonstrate the meaningful contributions they are making to the lives of young people.

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2. What is the philosophy behind the Learning Network?

As professionals who work in youth-serving organizations, we share a common goal--to improve the lives of youth. However, there is often little opportunity to reflect on our work, to share questions and deepen our expertise with staff and leaders of other organizations, funders and policy-makers. The Youth Development Learning Network provides just such an opportunity. Participants gain the benefits of a collective wisdom that includes practical experience but is also informed by research about what works best to support young people's development.

The foundation for this work is the Youth Development Framework for Practice. It provides a research-based system for understanding the youth development field which focuses on the crucial supports and opportunities necessary for healthy youth development:

• safety
  
  
• relationship building
  
  
• community involvement
  
  
• youth participation
  
  
• skill building
  
  

The framework also clarifies how these supports and opportunities are best implemented and how they contribute to long term outcomes for youth.

This effort is guided by a CNYD training team with a strong background in working directly with youth. CNYD trainers use interactive and experiential methods, such as group discussions, role-playing, and games to encourage understanding, sharing and debate about the practices that best support youth. The Network acts as a learning laboratory where youth workers, program managers and organizational leaders gain a new understanding of their work from a youth development perspective.

Youth Development Framework for Practice

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3. Who comes to the Network?

The Learning Network engages up to 20 youth-serving agencies in a four-month process that provides youth workers with professional development opportunities for peer learning, integration of concepts and skills, and application of these learned concepts. Each agency sends two staff members to attend each of the Network sessions. In addition, agency leaders attend the opening and closing sessions where they join youth workers, funders and policymakers in examining youth development issues from multiple perspectives.

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4. What happens in Learning Network sessions?

There are a total of eleven Learning Network sessions over a four-month period. The CNYD training team uses highly participatory and experiential techniques to encourage youth workers and agency leaders to reflect on their own practice and the work of their agency. Each session is briefly outlined below:

Opening Session: A Youth Development Framework for Practice
Participants are introduced to CNYD's framework through a brief history of youth development and an exploration of its components.

Safety: Participants explore the fundamental elements of creating emotionally and physically safe spaces for youth.

Relationship Building: Participants reflect on their personal and professional history in building relationships and explore one theory of group development.

Youth Participation: Participants are introduced to a continuum of youth participation and examine the implications for supporting youth in their development as leaders and contributors.

Community Involvement: Participants explore their own vision of community involvement and their professional capacity to support youth in acknowledging, defining and expanding their contribution to their community.

Skill Building: Participants explore the elements of skill building that ensure youth are challenged, interested and experiencing growth in their learning.

Open Training Day: Participants have the opportunity to train each other in areas of interest or expertise.

Agency Leaders Luncheon: Agency Leaders meet to discuss questions they may be having as well as prepare for the coaching and closing session.

Assessment and Evaluation: Over two sessions, participants learn a participatory process for assessing safety, relationship building, youth participation, community involvement and skill building in their programs.

Closing Session: An Action Agenda
Participants, agency leaders, funders and policy-makers engage in a dialogue about how to move the framework forward within their practice, their agency and the broader system of youth development.

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The goal of on-site coaching is to build agency and staff ability to apply concepts learned in the Learning Network, develop improvement strategies and apply them to the work done with youth in that agency. At the completion of the Learning Network, each agency receives 15 hours of on-site coaching. As a result of the Learning Network experience, the team from each agency selects areas of improvement and creates a work plan for implementing changes within their organization. Below are examples of how CNYD coaches have supported agencies in the past:

• Improved current programs by integrating youth development practices into ongoing activities
  
  
• Created tools and processes to educate the rest of the staff, volunteers and board members about youth development practices
  
  
• Created assessment tools to measure the impact of programs
  
  
• Integrated youth development concepts into strategic plans, job descriptions and print materials
  
  
• Supported new program design
  
  

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6. What does my agency gain as a result of participating in the
Learning Network?

The Learning Network provides each agency with:

• Up to 15 hours of on-site coaching to assist in implementing improvement strategies
  
  
• 55 hours of professional development for each staff member attending the Learning Network
  
  
• An opportunity to connect with a professional community of youth workers and organizations
  
  
• An opportunity to dialogue with and hear from funders and policy-makers
  
  
• The Youth Development Binder, a set of resources designed to guide agencies through discussions, experiential activities and explorations of the essential components of quality youth work
  
  
• A copy of Tribes A New Way of Being and Learning Together by Jeanne Gibbs
  
  
• A copy of Helping Teens Stop Violence by Allan Creighton with Paul Kivel
  
  
• Breakfast and lunch at every Learning Network session
  

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7. What are my agency's commitments to the Learning Network?

Each agency agrees to meet the following conditions and provide the following resources:
The commitment of organization leaders to actively participate and support the Learning Network process

• To attend an informational meeting prior to the start up of the Network
  
  
• To select two youth practitioners (line staff, program director, etc.) to attend all Learning Network sessions
  
  
• The commitment of agency leadership to participate in three of the Learning Network sessions with participating agency staff and funders
  
  
• To provide space and time for agency staff to share their learning with other agency colleagues
  
  
• The commitment of the agency to examine their organizational support systems and staff development resources for youth workers.
  
  

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8. Is there a fee for the Learning Network?

While no one is turned away for lack of funds, we ask that agencies pay at the rate listed below to offset room rental, food, and material costs.

The entire Learning Network represents approximately $15,000 of in-kind grant support to each participating agency.

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9. How do I know if my agency should enroll in a Learning Network?

If your agency is looking for a way to systematically improve its ability to support young people in their development, then the Youth Development Learning Network may be for you. The Learning Network is an intensive capacity building process, designed to impact an entire agency. We have learned that a certain level of agency "readiness" optimizes successful participation.

Before each Network, the CNYD training team conducts interviews with interested organizations to make certain all key stakeholders understand the goals behind the network and the level of effort required. Below are a few indicators of readiness we assess:

• The agency leadership is committed to actively participating in the Learning Network and supporting the improvement strategies that result
  
  
• The agency works with a specific group or the same group of young people over time
  
  
• The agency is interested in looking deeper at their current practices and thinking about what quality practice means
  
  
• Structures are in place for staff to examine current practice and implement improvement strategies (e.g. staff development days. professional development budget)
  
  
• The same staff representatives can attend all of the Network sessions
  
  

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Training and Events - Workshops

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