I want to focus my paper on the first step in positive youth development- bridging the different domains (home, school, and community). I will look at the different partner relationships that can be formed within these interactions. I will mostly use the literature to back up my argument of partnerships for long-term success in pyd programming. If some of you girls decide to do interviews with ALA staff, I would also like to get on board and ask some questions pertaining to the organization's and personal views of collaborative work with schools, families, and the community at large.
The structure of my paper will be first background of partnerships, domains, and community organization's role; second specific examples, i.e. Beacon Centers in San Francisco; third any information collected from ALA staff; and fourth my recommendations to ALA of forming these interactions.
I do not believe the paper will be too long, less than 20 pages. I will try to provide an abbreviated version for the super busy ALA staff. The paper will be academic but not too concerned with the terminology, as the paper will be geared towards ALA staff to inform them of the latest outcomes of different PYD methods and not the theory of PYD.
If this does not seem like a good topic for writing, please let me know!
Monday, March 28, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
After Dobie Visit...
New Developments after Dobie visit
1. The after school program will cut after Explore UT at Dobie (something about politics?, according to Lee).
2. When asked what ALA needs from us, the PRP group, Lee responded bluntly with the statement that there is really no need for us.
New approach
As we have focused much of our attention in the last weeks on the Explore UT endeavor, we need to return to our roots, aka the theory of positive youth development. Even though I have enjoyed the "hands-on" activities on planning for Explore UT and the curriculum to prepare for the big day, I have many times questioned the applicability of this time-consuming, planning process to our role as policy students- especially since we had to sell the idea first to skeptical ALA staff. Well since there is "no need for us" at ALA right now I think we should go back to the literature and put it in the context of Austin. I will try to put a flowchart within the week to put all of our past readings into a picture. The problem for me is that I am not a theory person, but I found the 4-H study article titled "Positive Youth Development, Participation in Community Youth Development Programs, and Community Contributions of Fifth-Grade Adolescents : Findings From the First Wave Of the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development" to be an excellent resource. Excuse my incoherent thoughts; they will be all mapped out after I put this flowchart together.
1. The after school program will cut after Explore UT at Dobie (something about politics?, according to Lee).
2. When asked what ALA needs from us, the PRP group, Lee responded bluntly with the statement that there is really no need for us.
New approach
As we have focused much of our attention in the last weeks on the Explore UT endeavor, we need to return to our roots, aka the theory of positive youth development. Even though I have enjoyed the "hands-on" activities on planning for Explore UT and the curriculum to prepare for the big day, I have many times questioned the applicability of this time-consuming, planning process to our role as policy students- especially since we had to sell the idea first to skeptical ALA staff. Well since there is "no need for us" at ALA right now I think we should go back to the literature and put it in the context of Austin. I will try to put a flowchart within the week to put all of our past readings into a picture. The problem for me is that I am not a theory person, but I found the 4-H study article titled "Positive Youth Development, Participation in Community Youth Development Programs, and Community Contributions of Fifth-Grade Adolescents : Findings From the First Wave Of the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development" to be an excellent resource. Excuse my incoherent thoughts; they will be all mapped out after I put this flowchart together.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Bidwell's connections to PYD
Thoughts after reading the article about Bidwell
1. Mr. Strickland is an incredible man, whose dedication to young people is truly something to replicate (his dedication that is).
2. Bidwell's "successful" programs showcase the importance of money and who you know. These operating budgets and donations are in the hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars, many from big schools or corporations.
3. One statement that made me a bit uneasy was one of Strickland's favorite sayings, "We take people whom society regards as liabilities and make them into assets" (1). It almost seems like the youth are just part of a business transaction.
4. The success of this program was evaluated on the basis of the number of kids that went through the program, graduated, and got jobs. The article does not address the impact the program has on these neighborhoods- community impact. I do not believe an after school program can be deemed successful just based on the number of kids that went through the program and now are "assets," if as many kids or more are neglected because of the continuing culture of these "unresponsive to youth's needs" communities. The Bidwell program seems like it has had a positive impact on the youth participants' lives; however, fancy programming and wealthy connections does not translate to the model for positive youth development, especially on a community scale.
1. Mr. Strickland is an incredible man, whose dedication to young people is truly something to replicate (his dedication that is).
2. Bidwell's "successful" programs showcase the importance of money and who you know. These operating budgets and donations are in the hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars, many from big schools or corporations.
3. One statement that made me a bit uneasy was one of Strickland's favorite sayings, "We take people whom society regards as liabilities and make them into assets" (1). It almost seems like the youth are just part of a business transaction.
4. The success of this program was evaluated on the basis of the number of kids that went through the program, graduated, and got jobs. The article does not address the impact the program has on these neighborhoods- community impact. I do not believe an after school program can be deemed successful just based on the number of kids that went through the program and now are "assets," if as many kids or more are neglected because of the continuing culture of these "unresponsive to youth's needs" communities. The Bidwell program seems like it has had a positive impact on the youth participants' lives; however, fancy programming and wealthy connections does not translate to the model for positive youth development, especially on a community scale.
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