Through focus group research, interviews, youth involvement, and urban issue analysis, YDRF provides youth service organizations with an increased understanding and appreciation of youth popular cultural. We offer programs and concrete strategies on how to utilize this information to enhance specific practices and help them to infuse these techniques into their organization so they can begin to promote the achievement of the young people they serve in a relevant and engaging manner. YDRF makes this an enjoyable and productive learning experience for all those involved. In this training, participants examine some of the characteristics of urban inner city youth and how to design an appealing and successful recruitment program. Various strategies used by successful programs are shared.
Participants develop and share recruitment plans with other training participants.
Committing Youth to School and Work Committing Youth to School and Work is specially designed for youth workers, workforce development professionals, educators, parents and community leaders. It engages participants in an exploration of the issues of youth educational apathy, unemployment, underemployment, and the lack of labor force participation. Participants examine strategies for overcoming these barriers with emphasis placed on helping participants understand how popular youth culture can be utilized as a catalyst to promote educational and workforce achievement. Participants leave with strategies to use in conjunction with their current programming and community efforts. Perhaps the least understood and most successful program strategy that has led to successful youth development has been post program support services.