Applying Knowledge

YOUTH DEVELOPMENT=COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

ELEMENTS OF YOUTH ENGAGEMENT PROVIDE ROAD MAP FOR WORKING WITH YOUTH

HOW DO YOUTH BENEFIT FROM BEING INVOLVED IN AN ASSET-BUILDING ORGANIZATION?

Campaign Aims to Change Behavior by Changing Perspectives on Youth

The One Million Voices for Youth™ Campaign, launched by Assets for Colorado Youth, is a statewide effort to bring about a change in how we all live and work with the young people in our communities. By highlighting the strengths of the young people in Colorado we hope to cause adults to think differently about how they support and encourage young people. We want the focus to be on strengths and not just problems - opportunities and not just challenges. The Campaign is beginning in Colorado and is intended to spread nationwide

As part of the campaign we’re collecting a list of a million strengths youth have that make them special. We need your help to reach that goal. Join the campaign, download resources, read more.

Evaluation Tracks Growth of Asset Movement in Colorado and Impact of the Statewide Initiative
Download the summary (PDF).
Download the full report (PDF).

The culmination of a two-year evaluation by OMNI Institute, Creating Social Change: The Growth of a Statewide Movement details outcomes and processes used in measuring the spread of assets in Colorado. Released by The Colorado Trust, the initiative's funder, the study explores four main areas:

• ACY's role in helping individuals and organizations integrate the asset framework.
  
• The organizational and personal transformations that occur when the assets are integrated.
  
• The reach of the asset movement in Colorado.
  
• The impacts of asset building on Colorado youth.
  

The evaluation findings will help youth development researchers and practitioners better understand the asset-building process, its transformational power for organizational change and measures of success.

Youth Development Professionals Respond to Evaluation Results
In an event hosted by The Colorado Trust, the four panelists shared implications of the study findings to the sectors of education, congregations, city covernment, and health. Read more from The Colorado Trust.

Evaluation Tools

Asset Integration in organizations can be described as an upward moving spiral upon which groups move from pre-engagement to full engagement in incorporating a strength-based approach to working with youth.

Asset-Building Spiral

Changing to a Strength-Based Philosophy Means Strength-Based Programs and Policy

Organizations that embrace the strength-based philosophy of the asset framework establish a tone and orientation that shapes organizational culture and practices. In studying the assets movement in Colorado, OMNI Institute found that in such organizations, staff identified transformations or organizational changes in staff morale, youth engagement, organizational effectiveness and the expansion of networks with other agencies on behalf of youth.

Organizations that are most successful in integrating assets experience the following changes in organizational effectiveness:

• Staff are more intentional in their work with youth and in the community
  
• Staff have a common, unifying vision and mission for the organization
  
• The organizations' ability to leverage funding and in-kind support is enhanced
  
• Youth are more effectively engaged.
  

Assets as a Natural Fit with Youth-Serving Organizations
One of the most persistent themes that members of
the evaluation team heard during exit interviews was
that the asset framework is a “natural fit.” The asset
framework tended to resonate most strongly with youth-serving organizations that already used a strengthbased
approach, as well as staff members who were
strong advocates for youth. For these grantees, the 40
developmental assets made their guiding philosophy
explicit and provided a structure for expanding and
deepening their work with youth. As one grantee
described, “We had been working all along doing youth
development and leadership and that kind of thing.
And we were looking for a way to make it stronger…
Any program that we were giving the kids, we wanted
to make sure there was some value in it – [that] the kids
were definitely getting something from it… So, the asset
model seemed to be a natural and very easy fit with
the programming we were already doing.”

For many of the organizations that expressed this sense
of natural fit, asset integration was less about changing
existing programs and more about bringing assets to
the forefront of the work already being conducted. Asset
integration for these grantees was a purposeful step
taken to enhance organizational effectiveness.
In organizations that integrated assets into their
infrastructure and policies, significant transformations
could be achieved in clarifying and renewing the mission.

A New Framework for Advancing
the Mission of Organizations
In many ways, the grantee organizations that found
the asset framework a natural fit seemed to have an
affinity for the asset-building approach. Exposure to
the asset framework, however, gave these organizations
a new language, structure, research and resources that
supported and accelerated their work. As one grantee
explained, “I really feel like we knew the asset language
before it was even spoken. But to have it there, cut out
for us, it just saves so much time and energy. It really
helped us say, ‘Oh! This is it. This is the foundation.
This is exactly what all of us were thinking in our heads,
but had not put into words yet’.”

This grantee also described the increased efficiency
that resulted from integrating the asset framework
into his/her organization: “I really feel like it just gave
us a foundation and a framework for building… whereas
before we were spinning our wheels, trying to develop
things from scratch.” By integrating the assets framework
as a foundation for their work, staff could devote
resources to build upon this foundation rather than
create a new organizing philosophy themselves.

The asset framework, as well as the language and material
resources that accompanied the 40 developmental assets,
enhanced the ability of these organizations to articulate
and set forth a common, unifying vision and mission
that more explicitly guided staff in their work and
interactions with youth. As one grantee shared, “For me,
it helped conceptualize what we were doing. So, it has
been helpful for me to explain why [our organization]
does what it does. And it’s using the asset model, being
able to use that language, and talk about the different
assets and connect our programming with building
those assets… So, it’s just helped conceptualize what
we do… That’s what’s helped the mission.”

Another grantee explained how integration of the asset
framework clarified and advanced the mission of the
organization in this way: “It helped me understand
better what we’re doing here… [assets] was a great way
to… explain [to other staff members], ‘These are the
skills we’re trying to build in young people’.” The asset
framework and philosophy helped staff understand
the deeper meaning and contribution of their work
and align their individual efforts with the organizational
mission. Organizations that have established and articulated
a more explicit mission and vision are in a better
position to hold staff accountable for their work. Not
surprisingly, therefore, many of these organizations
incorporated assets as a topic of regularly scheduled
staff meetings and as a component of staff evaluations.
One grantee described how sharing a common vision
about the purpose and impact of one’s work promotes
organizational effectiveness. He/she said, “I think
[assets] has given us a framework that we all share.
And I think any time groups of people that are working
together have shared values, it strengthens your organization.
And I’d say that [building assets is] one of our
shared values that we’ve identified as a group.”