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California Youth Development Summit
Historical Background
For decades, commissions, task forces practitioners and youth themselves have bemoaned the fragmentation, competing assumptions, competing directives and "silo mentality" of California's youth serving systems.
Building on the findings of the National Academy of Sciences landmark report: Community Programs to Promote Youth Development, California is now moving toward collaborative, coordinated action to promote positive developmental outcomes for all young people.
Highlighted at the first California Youth Development Summit, held in September, 2002 the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report synthesized decades of science on adolescent health and development, and research findings on community programs for youth. It identified: (a) the personal and social assets that facilitate positive youth development; and (b) the features of positive developmental settings communities must provide for youth; and, it provided specific recommendations for a unifying framework to guide both the individual work and the collaborative efforts of all youth serving systems.
The initial summit was also distinguished by its emphasis on moving from understanding to action. It prioritized ten action steps to be taken to implement the NAS recommendations, and received commitments from participants to follow up with these action steps and report on their progress at a 2003 summit. Work-groups have continued to meet throughout the year, and a survey has been completed to chart progress with respect to the initial action steps.
This second annual California Youth Development Summit: Building Bridges, also emphasized effective action. It was designed to bring together policymakers, practitioners and youth leaders in an interactive work environment to accelerate this movement toward a unifying policy framework. The Summit is a conference for individuals - youth and adults - who have demonstrated a willingness to follow understanding with action. It is a place of celebration, networking, finding ways to more fully integrate youth into ongoing action planning, identifying critical next action steps, and building an expanded core group of individuals and organizations committed to helping all California youth realize their full potential.
The third annual California Youth Development Summit: Keeping A Positive Focus on Youth, is a venue where youth, community members, educators, policymakers, and others come together with a common focus of supporting young people throughout California. This Summit offers the opportunity for people to come together on a regional level to participate in a statewide Web Simulcast scheduled for October 1, 2004.
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Copyright © 2007, Tulare County Office of Education
Copyright © 2007, Tulare County Office of Education