Extension is expanding its online education and resources to adapt to COVID-19 restrictions.
Youth work courses
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Strong youth programs need strong youth development professionals. We offer research-based training and resources for adults who work with and on behalf of Minnesota's young people. Our experienced faculty and staff train individuals, teams and organizations.
Ways to learn about youth development
Foundational, research-based face-to-face learning. Contact us to schedule one of these courses.
Culturally Responsive Youth Work Matters
Explore cultural identities and examine how they affect interactions with youth. Culturally responsive practice creates a sense of belonging and empowerment in young people.
Youth workers face challenging situations they are required to address in their daily work with young people. Dig into the sticky challenges and issues of youth work and examine various ways to respond to real-life problems in your program.
Professional development strategies for youth work practice: Explore management and leadership in your program and gain internal professional development strategies targeted to youth work practice.
Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Suite
This training suite will help you design programs to support SEL, respond to unexpected opportunities that involve SEL and apply resources and activities from our SEL toolkit.
A program model and curriculum designed to show young people that they are participants in a global society and to prepare them to thrive in culturally diverse settings.
Explore the Rings of Engagement model, a framework that outlines four types of youth engagement and youth-adult partnerships.
Create resources and learn skills to help you work with young people. The content comes from a combination of real youth work experience and research-based material.
Foundational cohort courses adapted to 15-24 hours of interactive, facilitated online learning.
Leadership Matters: Facilitated online course
This online class explores supervision and leadership issues in youth work organizations. Online activities include synchronized group time and self-paced learning.
Youth Work Matters: Facilitated online course
Create resources and learn skills to help you work with young people. The content comes from a combination of real youth work experience and research-based material. Activities include both synchronized group time and individual learning.
3 to 6 hours of individual online learning.
Dilemmas in Youth Work: Self-guided online course
- Explore research on the dilemmas of youth work.
- Examine, discuss, and respond to dilemmas.
- Develop youth-centered strategies for addressing dilemmas in your own work that better meet the developmental needs of youth.
Youth Engagement Matters: Self guided online course
Explores a research framework, Rings of Engagement, which outlines four types of youth engagement and youth-adult partnerships.
Youth Work Matters: Self-guided online course
- Explore the foundational research and theories of positive youth development.
- Apply course content to your work with youth.
Youth development brown bag webinars are free interactive online learning over the lunch hour on various youth development topics.
Extension staff discuss research, theory and best practices in youth development.
Topics
- Youth programs
- Youth issues
- Volunteer development
- Citizenship and leadership
- Program quality
- Program evaluation
- Cultural diversity
- Social and emotional learning
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We offer free public symposia and learning events that bring together researchers, policy makers and practitioners to discuss issues in the field of youth development. We connect the latest research to implications for youth work practice, programs, policy and public education. Our current learning series is dedicated to equity and youth development.
- Learn more about the youth equity learning series.
- Learn more about Youth Equity Learning Cohort.
- View past symposia.
WeConnect is both a program model and a curriculum that helps young people see that they are participants in a global society. It prepares them to thrive in culturally-diverse settings. Developed for middle school-aged youth, but can be adapted for other age groups.
Social and emotional learning (SEL) includes learning to be aware of and manage emotions, work well with others, and work hard when faced with challenges. Youth programs develop SEL skills by creating opportunities for young people to engage in real-world projects, work in teams, take on meaningful roles, face challenges, and experience the emotional ups and downs that come along the way.
This toolkit includes activities, templates and tools organized around four ways to help support staff and youth in SEL. It was developed to go along with the 3-hour training, Social and Emotional Learning in Practice and related issue briefs. It is designed primarily for those working with youth in middle school, but with small changes the activities can be used for other age groups too. See the Introduction for an overview of how the toolkit was made. It can be read from start to finish, but it is not meant to be used in order. Select activities that meet your needs and fit with your program design. Get the most out of it by taking the Readiness Inventory first. Your responses will help identify sections of the toolkit that will be most helpful.
Learn more about this toolkit