This month's asset story, "Easing the Transition from Youth to Adulthood," focuses on the elements of effective youth engagement.

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Asset Story Archive
11/02 Asset # 37, Personal Power

10/02 Asset #36, Peaceful Conflict Resolution

09/02 Asset #24, Bonding to School

08/02 Asset #7, Community Values Youth

07/02 Asset #38, Self-esteem

06/02 Asset #40, Positive View of Personal Future

05/02 Asset #32, Planning and Decision Making

04/02 Asset #29, Honesty

03/02 Asset #31, Restraint

Easing the Transition from Youth to Adulthood

The transition from adolescence to adulthood does not happen in a flash the instant a young person turns 18. In order to navigate the pressures and responsibilities of the adult world, young people must acquire important skills as they go through their childhood and adolescent years.

In Colorado, a movement is underway to help adults rethink how they interact with youth. Adults are recognizing that they have a role to play in building the values, social skills and positive identity - or "developmental assets" - young people need to succeed. Youth organizations, schools, recreation centers and faith organizations are discovering the positive outcomes they can achieve from making youth/adult partnerships an organizational priority.

Assets for Colorado Youth (ACY), a statewide resource for communities integrating a positive approach to healthy youth development, works with youth advocates to ensure young people are respected, supported and provided with meaningful roles in their communities. Recent evaluation findings on Colorado's statewide asset movement by OMNI Institute show that young people who participate in "asset-building" organizations - or those that make an intentional effort to build developmental strengths in youth - experience:

• A sense of belonging
  
• Stronger, more effective relationships
  
• Skill building
  
• Self confidence
  
• A positive view of the future

One young focus group participant told the evaluators, "With assets in my life, I now show more empathy, and it's easy to make others feel good about themselves."

OMNI determined that when youth-serving organizations incorporated some of the following practices into their youth engagement efforts, they were able to have a more positive impact on youth:

• Adults share some degree of power with youth
  
• Youth have significant levels of responsibility
  
• Youth are viewed as actors and major players (as opposed to recipients of services)
  
• Adults and youth work side-by-side
  
• Strong, enduring relationships exist between youth and adults

As we learn how to improve our interactions with young people - to recognize and take advantage of those "teachable moments" - we can make a positive difference in their development and well-being, and help usher in a successful generation of young adults.

To learn more about the developmental assets and what you can do to help young people succeed, contact ACY.

Get monthly news on asset-building, tips, upcoming events and asset stories delivered right to your desktop by subscribing to the ACY Breaking News e-mail. Send your subscription request to kirsten@assetsforcoyouth.org.