On March 1, 2011 FYI celebrated Black History Month with an event that drew more than 50 youth to 1652 Keele Street. Participants partook in a slave ship re-enactment, listened to accounts of the middle passage trip and what our ancestors endured on the auction block. Participants from In The Lab 101 performed We’re Holdin On, an ode to black history and then snacks were served. A lively game of Guess Who Said It, matching quotes with pictures of notable people in history, followed by an Black Inventors Quiz and Black Presidents and Prime Ministers of the world. The night was capped off with a great meal of Jerk Chicken, Rice and Pea’s with a side of plantain. We can’t wait to do it again next year.
Register Now! Agency Mentorship Program–Training 1: Outcome-Based Program Models
Date: July 18, 2011
Time: 5:30pm to 8:30pm
Location: Frontier College, 35 Jackes Avenue
Toronto, Ontario M4T 1E2
RSVP: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/1805332799
The Training will take place in the basement of Frontier College. Snacks and beverages will be provided.
The Agency Mentorship Program’s Training #1 is focused on Outcome-Based Program Models. We will address the purpose and benefits of using program models, and in particular outcome-based program models. We will also explore two popular forms of outcome-based models: theory of change model and logic model. Participating organizations will complete activities using examples provided by the facilitator as well as examples stemming from their organization’s/program’s goals.
If you register for the training, please come with the following item:
A program or outcome that your organization can use as an example during training activities; for example, if your organization would like to implement a girl’s group, it can be used an your example for the training activities. Or if your organization has decided that it needs to increase its organizational budget, that can be the outcome that you use to practice designing your models.
If you would like information on Outcome-Based Program Models prior to the training, please see the following:
http://www.theoryofchange.org/
http://www.uwex.edu/ces/pdande/evaluation/evallogicmodel.html
Meet Toronto Star’s Youth Panel
Lekan Olawoye, FYI’s Executive Director is part of the Toronto Star’s Youth Panel, which has brought together some of Canada’s young leaders to pose daily questions to the political candidates of the May 2nd 2011 Federal Election. Read about it in The Star here.
FYI Director chosen as 25 city leaders to win a 2011 DiverseCity Fellowship
Ryerson University features its BSW Alumni, Lekan Olawoye, Executive Director of FYI, upon his acceptance into the DiverseCity Fellowship Program, Read About it Here!
Project Wildfire
Project Wildfire will be hosting a free workshop on entrepreneurship and social enterprise at For Youth Initiative, 1652 Keele Street location. The emphasis will be on fun and inspiration but after each workshop you’ll have the opportunity to record and upload your video to the Project Wildfire website.
When: April 14, 6:30pm – 9pm
Where: 1652 Keele Street
Snacks and Drinks will be provided.
To register, please visit: http://projectwildfire.ca/resources or register in person at For Youth Initiative, at1652 Keele Street. Contact 416.653.3311, ext. 223 for more details.
To learn more about Project Wildfire and how you can enter their contest see below:
PROJECT WILDFIRE WANTS TO GIVE YOU $25,000 TO CHANGE THE WORLD
If you’re between the ages of 19 and 29 and have an idea for a social business, then Project Wildfire wants you!
Starting April 06, budding entrepreneurs can upload a 60-to-90-second video of their social business idea to www.projectwildfire.ca – if your video makes it to the finals (based on community and jury voting), you’ll work with the amazing Project Wildfire mentor team to develop a business plan based on your idea. After submitting your business plan and delivering a 5-minute pitch to the jury, you could be one of 5 winners to receive up to $25,000 in funding and a full year of hands-on mentorship and other support to get your social business launched and thriving!
For more information, visit www.projectwildfire.ca – and join Project Wildfire at the launch party on April 05, with some great local bands and other entertainment!
Please also join us at our launch party on April 05 – it’s going to a great time, and best of all, it’s free!
Training Opportunity: 40 Developmental Assets
FYI will be sponsoring an event this April on the 40 Developmental Assets. It will focus on five aspects of Developmental Assets, Search Institute’s research-based framework of building blocks of development that help youth be competent, caring, and responsible. The assets, 40 common sense, positive experiences and qualities, help influence choices young people make and help them become asset builders for themselves and for their communities.
Please register at: http://fyi40assets.eventbrite.com
FYI will be sponsoring an event this April on the 40 Developmental Assets. It will focus on five aspects of Developmental Assets, Search Institute’s research-based framework of building blocks of development that help youth be competent, caring, and responsible. The assets, 40 common sense, positive experiences and qualities, help influence choices young people make and help them become asset builders for themselves and for their communities.
In this informational and interactive session, participants will (1) learn a positive youth development model through research findings from more than 3 million young people; (2) discover their own experience of Developmental Assets in their personal, organizational, and community life; (3) review the relevance of this framework to the For Youth Initiative in Toronto neighborhoods where they work; (4) identify steps for infusing the assets approach into ongoing programs; (5) become acquainted with an evaluation tool, the Developmental Assets Profile (DAP), a short, effective Search Institute survey for assessing program effectiveness.
April 5th (Full-Day)
Research Findings
In contrast to problem-focused approaches to helping young people develop, assets approach studies show that the more assets young people have, the less likely they are to engage in a wide range of high-risk behaviors and the more likely they are to thrive. Assets have power for all young people, regardless of their gender, economic status, family, or race/ethnicity, and are better predictors of high-risk involvement and thriving than poverty or being from a single-parent family.
Experience
Participants will identify their implicit knowledge of the assets from the perspective of positive influences during their growing up years; assets that are explicit within the mission and goals of their organizations or systems; and their own capacity as asset builders for youth.
Relevance
Because of its basis in youth development, resiliency, and prevention research and its proven effectiveness, the Developmental Assets framework has become one of the most widely used approaches to positive youth development in the United States and abroad, including many communities in Canada This approach has been found useful among community and religious leaders, educators, parents, youth, business representatives, health care leaders, tribal leaders, law enforcement personnel, government policy makers, and youth workers.
Infusing Assets into Our Organization
When organizations more fully incorporate strength-based approaches to intentionally build assets in young people, the organization and individuals become more skilled in identifying young people’s strengths and building on them. During the “infusing assets” retreat, participants assess their current organizational realities around youth development, become familiar with the impact of a change process, and create a strength-based plan. Organizational teams will consider multi-faceted dimensions of creating an intentionally asset-rich organization, identify starting points with high likelihood for success, and prepare action plans that move beyond “assets” as a term, toward assets as a way of life.
April 6th (Half-Day)
Assessing Outcomes—the Developmental Assets Profile (DAP)
Search Institute has created a short assets survey that is quickly administered and scored. The DAP measures the youths’ perceptions of their experience of the eight asset categories. Those categories are Support, Empowerment, Boundaries and Expectations, Constructive Use of Time, Commitment to Learning, Positive Values, Social Competencies, and Positive Identity. The data can also be scored within five context areas, so you can learn how your young people are faring personally, socially, and within the family, school, and community contexts.
Search Institute has established qualifications guidelines for users of the DAP. During the add-on half-day training, participants will be introduced in depth to the DAP, experience it, learn about its administration and interpretation, and identify the ways in which it could be most helpful in their organizational setting. This half-day training would be of interest to organizations who are looking to implement outcomes-based programming or would like more information about measuring the Developmental Assets.
40 Developmental Assets_Training _Flyer
Please register at: http://fyi40assets.eventbrite.com
For More Information Please Contact: Haniyyah Ali at getinvolved@foryouth.ca
Costs include all training materials and meals during the event.
Participants will receive an information package with more details prior to the event.