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The National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth is a free information service of the HHS/ACF Family and Youth Services Bureau. Contact NCFY at |
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September 2009
In This Issue:
Know youth workers or other professionals who might enjoy receiving a copy of the monthly Youth Initiatives Update in their inboxes? PASS IT ON! Subscribing is easy. Simply send an email with "Subscribe YIU" in the subject line to ncfy@acf.hhs.gov. |
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Free PYD Training Learn about a positive approach to working with young people while avoiding travel costs and registration fees. Our new self-paced online course, Introduction to Positive Youth Development, will familiarize you with the theory and practice of PYD. When you take the course’s two modules, you’ll learn
You’ll also receive certificates showing you have completed 1 hour and 45 minutes of training. For more information about PYD, see Putting Positive Youth Development Into Practice, and other NCFY publications available in print and PDF. Extending a Lifeline to the Streets In our latest podcast episode, NCFY staff members shadow two Philadelphia street outreach workers who attempt to make contact with runway and homeless youth and link them to services. Listen to Podcast #11: Lifeline to the Streets Quantifying Youth Homelessness The Exchange continues to explore topics in youth homelessness, this month covering how nonprofit organizations can count the number of homeless youth in their communities and best practices in serving them. The issue also looks at overrepresented groups among homeless youth. Healthy Competition Helps Youth Lose Weight, Gain Confidence As a case manager at Adams House, a transitional living program for older adolescent boys in Gastonia, N.C., Ed Smith is always looking for ways to keep residents active. This year, that quest led him to organize a weight-loss competition modeled after “The Biggest Loser,” the reality TV show in which overweight people diet and train hard to lose weight. Adams House contestants weighed in each Saturday for two months. They watched what they ate and made time for exercise. The result: Not only better physical health but mental health too, according to Smith, who saw self-esteem and confidence grow. “They were competing against each other, but more importantly, it was an individual challenge,” he said. “It gave the guys a goal, something to complete.” While the young men didn’t exactly transform their appearance the way contestants do on the show, all the residents lost weight. The big winner lost 17 pounds, and gained a bright, new pair of sneakers. Want to help youth in your program shed pounds? Here are some tips for starting a weight-loss competition:
If losing weight is not an issue at your program, consider creating a contest around something else. “You can make a contest out of anything,” Hennighan says, “whether it’s singing or dancing, losing weight or quitting smoking.” She suggests staff—and youth too—get together and brainstorm ideas about what the youth need, what they like to do and what motivates them. The goal, she says, is “to keep young people on track and in a positive direction.” Got a bright idea that you've put into practice? Send it to ncfy@acf.hhs.gov and we may feature it in Youth Initiatives Update. Are You Ready for Anything? September is National Preparedness Month. Here are some ways you can ensure your organization is ready in case of emergencies:
Knowing Your Organization’s Needs Key to Fundraising With rare exception, nonprofit organizations of all stripes have to raise money to keep their operations going and to fulfill their missions. But rather than build a strategy linked to their missions, many nonprofit leaders mistakenly see fundraising as an end in and of itself, says Justin Pollock, managing director of programs at the Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations. “Oftentimes people will come in and kind of jump the gun, wanting to raise money before they’ve done their own needs assessment,” Pollock says. Taking stock of the resources a nonprofit needs to function effectively not only informs fundraising planning, he says, but also can strengthen the fundraiser’s pitch. You can say that $1,000 will help start a much-needed GED program or pay for a new training program for volunteer mentors. Pollock suggests taking the following steps to assess a charity’s needs and begin drafting a fundraising strategy: Start with your board. It’s their responsibility to ensure your organization has the money, supplies, people and other resources it needs to fulfill its mission. For that reason, board members ideally should take the lead in identifying the charity’s needs and deciding how to meet them. Consider the three types of resources. Every nonprofit needs goods, services and cash to run, Pollock says. Make a list of the things your program or organization requires. For instance, an after-school arts program would want to itemize what supplies, facilities, staff and insurance it needs and how much all of that will cost. Think about what you can get “in kind.” There are a lot of things nonprofits might not have to pay for, if they get creative about it, Pollock says. For instance, that same after-school program could approach an art store about donating supplies, ask teachers or parents to volunteer, and look for someone who wants to donate a used van to transport students to and from activities. (See NCFY’s article on in-kind fundraising.) Figure out how much cash you need. Even with many generous in-kind donations, you’ll most likely need cash to pay salaries and utility bills and to fill up that van with gas. Simply put, Pollock says, “The gap between what you can get in kind and what you need is your fundraising goal.” Devise a strategy. Think about who can help you, either as partners (volunteers, clients and board members who might tell your story, make connections or ask for contributions) or as funders (government agencies and local foundations, businesses and community members, including your board). Will individuals have an interest in your mission? (If your organization directly serves youth and families, the answer is likely yes.) In addition to raising money, are there ways the organization can earn income, such as charging sliding-scale membership fees or starting an odd-job service that employs clients? One fundraising pitfall to avoid, Pollock says, is relying on a sole source of funding, such as a single government or foundation grant that may run out. Next month: Is your nonprofit ready to raise money from individual donors? Right on the Money is an ongoing series about how to keep the doors of nonprofit organizations open in good times and bad. If there's a topic you'd like us to address here, please e-mail us. Engaging Students, From Grade School to Graduation This month, millions of students are going back to school. But an estimated 1.2 million young people, ages 16 to 19, were not enrolled in high school and were not high school graduates in 2007, according to the latest data available from The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s KIDS COUNT Data Center. Regardless of the method used to measure the nation’s high school dropout rate, researchers agree that too many students are leaving school without the knowledge and skills they need to meet the demands of twenty-first century workplaces and communities. Two new publications emphasize the fact that keeping youth in school is not just about academics. (Publications discussed here do not necessarily reflect the views of NCFY, the Family and Youth Services Bureau or the Administration for Children and Families). Preventing youth from dropping out requires a comprehensive approach that deals with the myriad issues students face at home, at school and in the community, argue the authors of “Reducing the High School Dropout Rate” (PDF), from the Casey Foundation’s KIDS COUNT Indicator Brief series. The authors propose five strategies for reducing the dropout rate.
Students who have good relationships with the adults in their lives may be more likely to feel engaged at school and less likely to drop out, according to a new study, “Parent and Teacher Relationships as Predictors of School Engagement and Functioning Among Low-Income Urban Youth” (published in The Journal of Early Adolescence in June [29(3):376-404]). The study examines the ways in which parent-child and teacher-student relationships contribute to how well middle-school-aged students in a low-income urban environment adjust to school. More than 90 percent of students in the study were Hispanic. The author analyzed students’ attendance and satisfaction with school and found that when youth had good relationships with their parents and teachers, they rated their school engagement—in other words, their willingness to learn and participate academically—more highly. Go to the NCFY literature database for abstracts of these and other publications. Primary Sources is a summary of recent research on youth and families. Got a research topic you want to learn more about? E-mail us and we may feature it in Youth Initiatives Update. Building Healthy Communities Grant Program Wal-Mart Giving Program National Afterschool Matters Edmund A. Stanley Jr. Research Grants Great American Bake Sale Skate Parks in Low-Income Communities Celebrating Solutions Relatives as Parents Program Social Change Projects Campaign for Black Male Achievement LeTendre Education Fund Scholarship Youth Executive Training Program $500 Disaster Grants $500 Do Something Grants The Youth Initiatives Update comprises links to Web sites with information on programs, organizations, resources, and publications relevant to children, youth, and family issues. Inclusion of this information does not imply endorsement by the Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), or the National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth (NCFY). Moreover, the points of view or opinions expressed on these Web sites do not necessarily represent the official position, policies, or views of FYSB, HHS, or NCFY. To subscribe or unsubscribe to Youth Initiatives Update, please send your request to ncfy@acf.hhs.gov.
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