Engaging Middle School Youth through Project Based Learning (PBL)

Participants will explore best practices and activities for engaging middle school youth in Project Based Learning (PBL). The workshop will cover techniques and topics that have been successful in middle school programs, as well as help participants plan activities within the PBL framework.

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Expanding Your Reach; Stepping Out of Our Comfort Zone

The ability to serve the needs of families and children in rapidly changing communities is essential.  This workshop is designed to provide practitioners with a framework for effectively serving diverse audiences and can be customized to your local community’s demographics.

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Fishing for Dollars-Finding Financial Aid for College

This workshop is designed to prepare high school students and parents for applying for competitive scholarships to assist with covering the cost of college. Scholarships searches for the all students, from honor roll to average. Participants will walk away with a virtual bait box and a scholarship checklist for attracting financial aid.

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Integrating Cultural Context Into Youth Development Programming

Participants will be introduced to research based principles for working with diverse youth and will have an opportunity to create and revise lesson plans using the workshop content.

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Introduction to Continuous Quality Improvement

This 3-part workshop is designed to introduce participants to Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) method of program improvement.  Facilitated activities on building a logic model, developing program outcomes and outcome measurement plans are key elements of the CQI process and included in these workshops. During this series participants will be provided a case study to apply concepts and begin to draft a logic model and outcome measurement plan for their program.

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Introduction to Program Design

This workshop introduces participants to the key elements of program design for youth programming. Elements to be discussed as part of program design are: staffing, professional development, program mission, objectives and outcomes, and engagement. This workshop will provide an opportunity to learn about the importance of selecting a primary program model and encourage participants to assess their current program model. Participants will be provided with a list of resources for additional program design information.

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Understanding, Communicating and Connecting with African American Boys in the Classroom

A 3-part series of professional development workshops for K-12 teachers that focuses on understanding and working with Black males in the classroom.

• Session I      Child and adolescent development
  Participants will be introduced to seminal human development theories and to newer culturally grounded child and adolescent theories that can help educators and counselors improve their work with ethnically diverse children including Black males.

• Session II     Communication Styles
  Communication styles play a large part in establishing relationships and connecting with students. Family, friends and neighborhood communities influence how we communicate. This workshop will build on the theories introduced in session I. Participants will be introduced to Culturally Responsive Interventions (CRIs) to address communicating with Black males in context.    

• Session III   Connecting
  Participants will apply the theories and practices shared in sessions one & two to revise and model a lesson plan.

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What Can I Do With this Data?

This workshop is designed to help participants assess program strategy by examining outcomes, data collection and analysis in order to make data driven decisions for youth development programming. During this workshop there will be an opportunity to analyze a sample data report in order to make an informed program decision. Participants will also have an opportunity to create stories from data and to brainstorm funding opportunities using a data story.​