I recently came across an article in the Harvard Family Research Project journal from the summer of 2004. In light of the current economy, this piece served as a timely reminder of why we continue to provide quality trainings despite massive cuts to professional development budgets in non-profits across Minnesota and the country. The article provides data from studies on out-of-school time staff and the impact of quality professional development on their work. The results could easily apply to youth intervention as well.
The article begins by defining the two-fold purpose of professional development. Everyone knows that professional development serves to teach providers about new information, models, techniques etc., but we often forget that it also often serves to, “improve the quality and sustainability of the … workforce.” How much staff turnover has your program experienced in the last year? Would a better-informed, more professional staff reduce this frustrating and disruptive trend?
Looking at our own practices and attitudes can be one of the most difficult things we do as youth service providers. Change is hard. Not to mention that many of us have been pushing our own needs aside for a long time. Why spend money on a conference, when we can use that money to add another child to our program? Well, this article shows the link between quality professional development and youth outcomes. A program with poorly trained staff, frequent turnover and no mechanisms for change may be able to serve lots of kids, but can’t produce results in the end.
The need for professional development training for non-profit staff is growing. The challenges that youth face are ever increasing – dealing with everything from “sexting” to homelessness, mental health issues to aggression, increasing gang involvement to families that are struggling to survive. With those challenges comes a call to the youth service providers of Minnesota and beyond to be ready to tackle these challenges head on. Providers need to be well versed in current youth culture, knowledgeable about resources available to them, and have access to information that will allow them to better serve youth and families.
As you and your organizations work to put together 2010 budgets, remember that staff play a critical role in enacting quality programming for youth and better program outcomes. An investment in professional development means stronger youth programs as both new staff and seasoned veterans continue improving their skills.
YIPA is continuing our commitment to provide high-quality, affordable professional development opportunities for all who work with youth. In 2010, we will seek ways to do that via collaboration, new ways to offset conference fees, and the opportunity for web-based learning. Because youth intervention is so integrated into the worlds of out of school time, mentoring, juvenile justice, education and other points of service for youth, we will work to bring the expertise and quality of YIPA to new audiences within those fields.
We want everyone to leave our trainings saying, “I get much more applicable information and better tools from YIPA conferences than all other conferences I attend each year!” as did one Rochester conference attendee. So, we welcome your input for professional development needs and would love to hear about the training needs in your communities. We look forward to releasing our 2010 calendar of conferences and trainings in the near future.
No comments:
Post a Comment