Voices and Choices: Illinois Youth Work Professionals Discuss Opportunities, Challenges and Options for the Profession

This is one of a series of reports produced by the Next Generation Youth Work Coalition about the youth workforce. This report summarizes themes from eight focus groups conducted with 83 Illinois youth workers from both urban and rural locations around the state. Topics include the motivation for entering this work, youth work preparation, what workers need to feel supported, career challenges, and factors influencing decisions to stay in or leave the field.

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IL-FocusGroupReport.pdf159.31 KB

While I wrestled with the

While I wrestled with the title (the wrestling of titles also being an excellent reason for Not Writing) the book itself had stubbornly and - it must be said - ungratefully refused to write itself. It lies buried somewhere in those boxes of paper, breathing, waiting for me to unearth it. I don’t need a word processor; I need a pitchfork. I need a secretary. I need - a coffee, that’s what I need. So off I go.

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In order to strengthen supports for youth workers, it is critical that new champions join the effort. We must not preach only to the choir! This two-page case statement is designed to make a clear, concise, convincing argument for investing in youth workers, not just youth programs. We hope it is useful as you reach out to new groups of stakeholders to engage in this work, including business, education, higher education and more.

Despite major advancements in the field, staffing – everything from recruitment, retention, supervision, to performance – remains a major challenge. There is a need to reexamine currently held assumptions about what it will take to build a strong, stable, committed workforce. What incentives? What opportunities? What requirements? For whom? In what combination? This brief report by Nicole Yohalem, Karen Pittman and Sharon Lovick Edwards highlights lessons learned over the past six years by the Forum for Youth Investment, Cornerstones for Kids and the Next Generation Youth Work Coalition, with an eye toward implications for funders. We summarize what is known about youth workers, why investments in this workforce matter, and what funders (private and public) can do to spark and support these investments. The goal is to support discussions about how focused attention on workforce development can be a part of funders’ individual and collective efforts to strengthen and expand after-school and youth development programs and systems.

Find the document here: http://forumfyi.org/content/strengthening-youth-developmentafter-school-...