Increasing Youth Opportunities Suggestions for Submitting a Strong Proposal

Increasing Youth Opportunities

Suggestions for Submitting a Strong Proposal

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BACKGROUND

STATEWIDE ACTION PLAN FOR YOUTHTHE FRAMEWORK:Three Elements Needed to Enable Sustainable Change

©2008 The Forum for Youth Investment

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STATEWIDE PLAN:THE OUTCOMES

All children and youth: Are safe and valued Receive a 21st century education and a high school diploma Have a path into and through higher education and into the workforce Have access to optimal physical, dental, emotional health and disability resources Have strong relationships with caring adults

All families: Have access to optimal physical, dental, emotional health and disability resources Are economically stable and resilient Have access to safe, appropriate and affordable housing Have pathways to upward mobility

All communities: Are healthy and safe with adequate social and economic capital

All leaders: Promote social justice Work to eradicate racism and discrimination Nurture a new generation of leaders

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UW’S RESEARCH-BASED STRATEGY

We will focus on:

CHILDREN & YOUTH

■ Avoiding high-risk behaviors

■ Creating mentoring relationships

■ Empowering through civic engagement & leadership

■ Getting ready for college &/or work

FAMILIES

■ Engaging families in youth learning/development

LEADERS

■ Advocating for public policies

Interim Outcomes: decision-making skills, relationships with peers & adults, connection to community,

academic & behavioral milestones, work experience, mental health functioning, family engagement

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GENERAL QUESTIONS FOR ALL IYO APPLICANTS

All agencies applying in IYO must complete the following questions:

For Funding Model:

In FY11, what is the total unduplicated number of youth that your agency expects to serve?

NEW: “Youth” are defined as all participants in all youth-serving programs, ages 6-21. If you have some participants older than age 21 or younger than 6 in your program, please include them in your numbers.

What are you doing to help youth develop 21st century skills (see definition in IYO impact paper)?

If applicable, describe your 2 or 3 most important strategies for preventing youth from dropping out of school.

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MENTORING:Youth will feel valued & empowered through supportive relationships

Relationship is focused on social-emotional well-being

Matches meet at least 4 hrs. per month

Matches meet for at least one year

Has policies for: recruitment, screening, orientation/training and ongoing support/training

Uses research-based tool to measure “perceived support of mentors” (by youth or adult mentor)

Tracks duration (months) of matches

If intentional staff mentoring, time set aside for mentoring separate from general program responsibilities

If group or team mentoring; ratio is no greater than 1:4 (adults to youth)

If school-based, matches meet weekly throughout school year

Traditional Mentoring & Intentional Staff Mentoring

Eligibility Requirements:

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MENTORING:Youth will feel valued & empowered through supportive relationships

MENTORING: This measure is focused on the development of long term, intensive relationships between youth and caring adults. Successful applications will include:

#1 Characteristics of youth

Match criteria, selection process and outreach

#3/4/7 Contributions/ Verification

Demonstrate strong bonds; Meets at least 4 hours per month for at least one year; Use research-based tool

#5/6/7 Approach/ Quality of program

Shows capacity to manage matches and intentional effective approach for recruitment, screening, training and orientation, ongoing match support, evaluation and celebration component

For Intentional Mentoring:Same quality standards as traditional mentoring; Staff time will be set aside for mentoring separate from general program responsibilities

#7 Past Successes

% of matches lasted past the one year mark; Other measures of success

#8 Recruitment Plan

Realistic plan likely to produce numbers and quality of adults

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CIVIC ENGAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP: Youth will be civically engaged and demonstrate leadership


Participation is at least 20 hours per year of community service, social entrepreneurship (youth venture), or youth leadership

Primary focus is on service/leadership, not work experience

Uses a research-based tool to measure “perceived connection to the community”

Tracks service participation hours of each youth

For youth in leadership positions, program will track youth attendance required of position

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CIVIC ENGAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP: Youth will be civically engaged and demonstrate leadership

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT: This measure is about preparing youth to be leaders by engaging them in individual and collective actions designed to identify and address issues in their community. Successful applications will include:

#3 Contributions How youth progress to higher level contributions; Significant numbers benefiting

#5/6 Approach Youth voice and action; Well-planned projects that address community issue or work with others; Role of adults vs. youth.

#7 Past Successes How past projects have made a difference in the community and how you know the experience has benefited youth.

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POSITIVE BEHAVIORS: Youth will avoid or reduce high-risk behaviors

Not for general population, focus is on high-risk youth.

Definition of “high-risk”Youth who:

are court involved or adjudicated;

are pregnant or parenting; are gang-involved; have a history of chronic violence; are chronic substance abusers; are victims of domestic abuse; are victims of school or community violence; are clinically depressed or have a mental health condition/illness are chronically mobile (i.e. homeless, youth aging out of foster care, etc.)

Youth’s failure in school, another UW-identified high-risk factor, is addressed in our “Academic support” measure.

Services for parent/caregiver mental health well-being are addressed in our IYO family measure.

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Designed for and specifically targets “high-risk”

Requires separate enrollment and intake process

Has evidence-based model/curricula or similarly intentional approach or provides an intensive clinical/case management approach

Focuses on issues or topics related to specific behaviors, trauma, mental health or lack of family support

Provide specific skill-building activities that lead to resiliency, coping skills, positive decision-making and problem-solving.

Uses research-based or reliable tools to measure “improvement in decision-making or functioning” that leads to reduced high-risk behaviors

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POSITIVE BEHAVIORS: The focus of this measure is on serving the most high-risk youth to reduce specific risk behaviors and improve functioning.

Successful applications will include:

#1 TargetPopulation

Prevalence and type of specific high-risk factors

#3/4 Contributions/Verification

Convince us that your method of tracking “improved behaviors” uses reliable and compelling tools

#5/6 Approach Proven strategies for high-risk populations; the step-by-step approach or progressive curriculum that builds increasingly higher levels of achievement

#8 Outreach How you identify, recruit and sustain enrollment of high-risk youth.

#9 Dosage A case that the intensity and dosage are likely to attribute to the results

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COLLEGE &/OR WORK READY: Youth will be ready for college and or work

Academic Support Programs (including homework help)

Has intentional approach of supporting academic success

Agencies serving youth enrolled in school will track grade promotion/retention at the end of the year

Agencies serving youth enrolled in alternative education programs will track the competencies/skills achieved


Work Readiness Programs

For internships, paid/unpaid work duration must be at least 5 weeks

For work, paid/unpaid work duration must be at least 3 months

During the school year, youth will work no more than 15-20 hours per week (including weekends)

During the summer, youth will work no more than 30-40 hours per week

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COLLEGE &/OR WORK READY: Youth will be ready for college and or work

COLLEGE AND WORK READY This measure is about ensuring youth are engaged in learning, academic or experiential, and given the supports to succeed in school and/or gain meaningful work experience.


Academic Support Programs

#5/6/7 Approach Serving youth enrolled in school: Afterschool outcomes the agency tracks that lead to better academics (for example:

engagement in learning, behavior, homework completion, grades, school attendance, etc.).

Serving youth not enrolled in school: Progressive outcomes towards higher levels of achievement (such as gained 2 or more

levels of TABE or SPL; passed 10th grade MCAS; achieved credit recovery, passed at least 2 of 5 GED areas); Connections with other youth-serving agencies.

#8 Connecting with School

Frequency and type of communication, curricula alignment, shared events & resources, joint membership on committees, joint trainings etc.

Work Readiness Programs

#2 Eligibility Case that work hours are age appropriate and sufficient to achieve benefits.

#5 Approach Progressive outcomes towards higher levels of achievement (such as aptitude & interest assessments, resume writing/preparation, mock interviews, career mentoring, career exploration etc.)

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FAMILY ENGAGEMENT: Families will engage in their children’s learning and development.

Family Engagement Program Components

Conducts self assessment using “Family Engagement Checklist” and submit to UW

Submits an annual “Family Engagement Action Plan” based on results of self-assessment

Tracks unduplicated # of households whose children participate in program


Parent/Caregiver Mental Health

Provides clinical intervention services

Tracks “improved mental health” using clinical or other research-based tools

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FAMILY ENGAGEMENT: Families will engage in their children’s learning and development.

FAMILY ENGAGEMENT: This measure focuses on the active participation of parents in their youth’s learning and

development.


Family Engagement Program Components

Self-Assessment Tool & Action Plan

Approach Submission of completed self-assessment tool; Action Plan- reaching higher levels of engagement; realistic and innovative

#5/7 Past Successes Past vs. new ways of engaging

Parent/Caregiver Mental Health

#1 Target Population Prevalence and type of parental issues/diagnosis

#3/4 Contribution/ Verification

Reliable and valid methodology for tracking “improved mental health” in the clinical/mental health field.

#5/6/7 Approach Proven program designs and theory of change that leads to a progression of improved functioning.

#6/7 Past Successes How improved parent functioning impacts their youth

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Public Policy

In FY11, there is more specificity as to the youth public policy measure, in that proposals must meet the goal of getting youth ready for college or work.

Eligibility Requirements Have Been Tightened: United Way will only fund:

• Statewide efforts where the agency takes a leadership role

•Agencies that have paid or volunteer staff dedicated to policy advocacy

•Agencies who measure their advocacy activities or have an internal logic model

•Agencies that are able to measure success over time

Successful proposals will be able to articulate the characteristics of the beneficiaries of a successful policy effort, how they will benefit, and how success will support the overarching framework of getting youth ready for college and/or work.

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Questions?

Documents

Increasing Youth Opportunities Suggestions for Submitting a Strong Proposal