Volunteering And Youth Development

The book provides guidelines and practical creative exercises which equip creativemajor students as well as creative practitioners with fundamental knowledge on creation methods. Combination of functionality, simplicity and aesthetics in modern design is considered a fundamental design principle in the Bauhaus School in Germany, and, inspired by the School, the creative handcrafting exercises and the concepts introduced in this book are primarily coherent with this principle. The book draws a direction between two and three dimensional material-based design and modern digital creation process. The first part of the book introduces various creative handcrafting exercises on proportion, geometry and modularity, among other fundamental design principles. The creative exercises will sensitize students on aesthetical and structural issues, and thus serve as an essential building block for application of the design principles to computer-based creative processes, which are introduced in the second part of the book. Published by City University of Hong Kong Press. 香港城市大學出版社出版。

The focus of the publication is on drawing on the excellent work that is available both nationally and internationally on good practice in volunteering and applying it to a youth development environment. The publication also draws on relevant principles of good practice in disciplines related to the topics covered. The application of the framework of principles for good practice in youth development to the task of attracting, engaging and sustaining volunteer contribution has been a primary consideration. The publication is intended for use primarily by youth development program coordinators and managers to support successful outcomes for all program participants - paid workers, volunteers, the community and most importantly young people.

Abstract: This bibliography represents a part of the materials in the 4hprk collection through December, 1989. 4hprk is a taxonomy of professional research and knowledge for 4-H and youth development professionals. It was developed as part of USDA funded research conducted at Ohio State and Mississippi State Universities. The set of bibliographies is composed for five categories: communication, educational design, youth development, youth program management, and volunteerism. A bibliography has been created for each category. The bibliographies provide a bibliographic citation and an abstract for each item in the collection.

This affordable paperback course textbook has been adapted from the landmark four-volume Handbook of Applied Developmental Science (SAGE 2003), a work that offers a detailed roadmap for action and research in ensuring positive child, youth, and family development. In 20 chapters, Applied Developmental Science: An Advanced Textbook brings together the latest in theory and application from applied developmental science and the positive psychology movement. This advanced text summarizes and synthesizes the best scientific knowledge from ADS to help readers understand the efforts being made around the world to ensure that all children and adolescents develop into healthy adults who contribute positively to society. Key Features: Prominent researchers and practitioners offer state-of-the-art overviews of key areas within the relatively new field of applied developmental science. In consultation with instructors of applied developmental science and psychology courses, chapters from the 4-volume Handbook Of Applied Developmental Science (SAGE 2003) have been selected that best match syllabi for such courses. Chapters end with conclusions offering students summaries and future directions, along with references for further in-depth reading. This new single-volume work will benefit students planning on careers working with children, youth, and families, generally within an educational or community setting. The text is also recommended for advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students of Psychology, Human Development & Family Studies, Social Work & Human Services, Education, and related disciplines.

Volunteer engagement is critical to achieving the mission of volunteer organizations (Boone and others, 2002). Fogarty and others (2009) found that 4-H volunteers are a mediating factor in achieving positive youth development outcomes and are responsible for teaching at least 50% of the life skills youth gain from participation in the organization. For 4-H to consistently achieve positive youth development outcomes, volunteers must be prepared for their roles (Arnold, 2009). However, most 4-H volunteer education programs are offered sporadically (Smith and others, 2017) and tend to focus on fundamental skills (Serafino, 2001), rather than more complex skills volunteers need to create supportive environments for positive youth development outcomes to occur (Arnold and others, 2009). Volunteers often state that a lack of learning opportunities is the reason why they do not continue to serve as a volunteer (Fahey and others, 2003). Also, many volunteers face obstacles participating in formal training, particularly when it is only offered face-to-face in a physical location (Ouellette and others, 2014). To address these issues, Spink (2016) recommends integrating more opportunities for self-directed learning and on demand resources. Studies by Homan and others (2020) and White and others (2020) found that 4-H volunteers desired more opportunities for mentoring, networking, and access to communities of practice to build content-specific knowledge and skills. 4-H volunteers also want more opportunities for mentoring and online and virtual learning (Dillard, 2020; Hensley and others 2020; Kok and others, 2020). Intentionally providing opportunities for volunteers to learn through informal learning may be a solution to address issues related to volunteer education. The relationship between work and informal learning is the strongest within the context of volunteering (Livingstone, 1999) but is the least understood (Duguid and others, 2013). While informal learning has been studied in the context of paid work, informal learning that occurs through volunteering is often considered passive (Cox, 2002), and is unplanned, unstructured, and ignored by organizations (Duguid and others, 2013; Livingstone and Guile, 2012). As a result, a systematic framework for organizations to intentionally develop and support pathways for informal learning does not currently exist. The purpose of the current study was to explore how volunteers in the Florida 4-H Positive Youth Development program engage in informal learning to support their volunteer roles. The goal of the study is to develop a list of informal learning activities volunteers participate to design a conceptual framework to guide organizations in the development of informal learning activities for volunteers to select from and explore. Four research questions guided this study: 1. What types of informal learning activities do Florida 4-H volunteers participate in to support their performance as a volunteer? 2. How frequently do volunteers engage in these types of informal learning activities? 3. Which informal learning activities do volunteers identify as most helpful to support their volunteer performance? 4. Why do Florida 4-H volunteers engage in informal learning? This two-part study consisted of an online questionnaire and follow-up interviews with current Florida 4-H volunteers. Respondents to the survey included 237 adult volunteers of which 20 participated in semi-structured interviews. The results from both survey and interview data indicated that volunteers frequently engage in a variety of informal learning activities. The top five activities volunteers did on a weekly basis included: searching the internet, reading newsletters, blogs, curriculum, and other print materials, collaborating with others on a joint task, setting personal goals, and using social media. When 4-H volunteers use informal learning, they want to learn about topics related to positive youth development, educational design and delivery, organization, 4-H program management, and interpersonal relationship skills. These topics are domains of learning Culp and others (2007) found to be essential for volunteers to be successful. Volunteers shared the number one reason why they choose to participate in informal learning is because they want to improve their performance. This supports the motto of the organization, which is "to make the best better." Volunteers also stated that they use informal learning because they have learning needs that are not currently being met by the organization and because it is more convenient and flexible for them than traditional didactic methods. Finally, volunteers said that informal learning aids in not only motivating youth but keeps them excited about the volunteer work they do for the organization. This study resulted in several implications for volunteer organizations, as well as a conceptual framework for organizations to guide intentional informal learning for volunteers.

Thank you for making the decision to be a volunteer youth worker—you give the gospel a flesh and blood presence and show God’s compassion for students in a way no one else does. Being a youth worker can be exciting, intimidating, fulfilling and challenging, and until now there was no “manual” on how to be a volunteer in a youth ministry. After more than twenty years as a paid youth worker, Jim Hancock left and became a volunteer in a student ministry. That experience taught him things he may never have learned as a youth ministry professional, and now he wants to empower others who are passionate about being volunteer youth workers. Inside this book you’ll find practical help, like: • tips about what to do on the first day • ideas on how to build and develop relationships with students • ways to combat youth “culture shock” • how to prepare students for life after youth group • how to say goodbye when it is time to leave …and many more indispensable insights that will make your experience as a volunteer youth worker valuable and rewarding for you and your students.

Young adulthood - ages approximately 18 to 26 - is a critical period of development with long-lasting implications for a person's economic security, health and well-being. Young adults are key contributors to the nation's workforce and military services and, since many are parents, to the healthy development of the next generation. Although 'millennials' have received attention in the popular media in recent years, young adults are too rarely treated as a distinct population in policy, programs, and research. Instead, they are often grouped with adolescents or, more often, with all adults. Currently, the nation is experiencing economic restructuring, widening inequality, a rapidly rising ratio of older adults, and an increasingly diverse population. The possible transformative effects of these features make focus on young adults especially important. A systematic approach to understanding and responding to the unique circumstances and needs of today's young adults can help to pave the way to a more productive and equitable tomorrow for young adults in particular and our society at large. Investing in The Health and Well-Being of Young Adults describes what is meant by the term young adulthood, who young adults are, what they are doing, and what they need. This study recommends actions that nonprofit programs and federal, state, and local agencies can take to help young adults make a successful transition from adolescence to adulthood. According to this report, young adults should be considered as a separate group from adolescents and older adults. Investing in The Health and Well-Being of Young Adults makes the case that increased efforts to improve high school and college graduate rates and education and workforce development systems that are more closely tied to high-demand economic sectors will help this age group achieve greater opportunity and success. The report also discusses the health status of young adults and makes recommendations to develop evidence-based practices for young adults for medical and behavioral health, including preventions. What happens during the young adult years has profound implications for the rest of the life course, and the stability and progress of society at large depends on how any cohort of young adults fares as a whole. Investing in The Health and Well-Being of Young Adults will provide a roadmap to improving outcomes for this age group as they transition from adolescence to adulthood.

While Africa has long been referred to as the dark continent, its shown itself to be a bearer of light to the world. Leaders such as the late former president of South Africa Nelson Mandela, former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, Nobel laureates Wangari Maathai and Desmond Tutu, and others have inspired the world with their words and actions. But more work needs to be done. Richard Munang outlines practical policies that countries in Africa should take to accelerate socioeconomic transformation and achieve ideals of sustainable development goals. He highlights how the pace of economic development in Africa has lagged other nations with fewer natural resourcesand what we can do about it. Unlike other books, this one presents a novel-strategic approach to building an economy that can thrive amid climate change. The paradigm he proposes incentivizes actions that stem climate changes most harmful effects. Find out how climate change can be a master key that unlocks the door to accelerated socioeconomic transformation in Africa and how it applies to development economists, politicians, and everyday people with the insights in Making Africa Work Through the Power of Innovative Volunteerism.