what is Youth Development

Youth Development is about being involved with young people. It is also should be informal and educational. It focuses on personal, social, and political awareness. Youth Development exists to improve the lives of young people by meeting their basic needs, physically, developmentally, and socially.

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YDEV Ideology

After doing the Youth Development Ideology Inventory I learned that I fall into the critical youth development ideology. I believe that youth can make a difference and they have a voice. Youth can have important ideas and can contribute to the world. Youth and adults works together to develop public role play. I learned that I can make a change for the better with youth. When working with youth I should provide spaces that ask youth what they think. We did this inventory in my YDEV class last semester and I kept it. I am in the same ideology as last semester.

Injustice

A time that I felt injustice was at my job at cvs. About a year ago now my manager told me she wanted to make me a supervisor that means higher pay and more responsibilities. I told her yes I am interested and she told me there were a few things I needed to work on. So I worked on those things and showed her I was ready for the responsibility. She never promoted me and instead gave it to two other people and I had been there longer and knew more than both of them. This made me feel like I didn’t deserve it and I knew that I did deserve it. I felt like I was not good enough for the position. When someone young, newer and did not have the knowledge for the position was given it I was ready to put my two weeks in but I couldn’t because I needed a job. If this happened again I would still put my two weeks in because I have been there long enough and deserve more.

Youth Development Anchors ⚓️

Purposeful Play is the idea of learning through playing. Youth workers need to be mindful of learning opportunities during play. Adding values and purpose to play makes it purposeful play. The 6 p’s of Play Permission Process Passion Productivity Participation Pleasure Care in youth work is focusing on the developmental needs of the child. A standard definition of care is “the provision of what is necessary for the health, welfare, maintenance, and protection of someone or something.” I believe as youth workers we take that definition to the next level by showing care for our youth and helping them build a better future for themselves. We should feel interested in our youth. As stated in Mapping Interconnected Care there are many ways one can show care including providing snacks when needed, having a clean and organized learning environment and connecting with the youth anyway you can.

Kristen Carter

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