Assets in Schools

Asset Story Archive
03/03 Expect Success Project Improving Climate of Denver Middle School

02/03 Tough Issues for Parents and Teens

01/03 Find Ways to Teach Tolerance

12/02 Easing the Transition from Youth to Adulthood

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

How Do Youth Benefit From Being Involved in an
Asset-Building Organization?
As the asset movement has gained momentum nationwide, the need has grown to demonstrate the positive impacts of the assets on youth. The OMNI Institute, as part of their two-year evaluation of the asset movement in Colorado, developed a focus group study to explore the central questions around the impact of an asset-building organization on how youth are engaged. As a result of their analysis they identified two major domains of positive change for youth participating in asset-building efforts.

OMNI's analysis of youth focus group data uncovered two main domains of positive change for youth participating in asset-building efforts.

• The first domain, strengthening youth, includes a sense of belonging, stronger and more effective relationships, self-confidence, skill building and a positive future orientation.
  
• The second major domain of impacts describes the emergence of youth asset builders.

These domains are explored in the following paragraphs:

Strengthening Youths' Sense of Belonging
Among youth, participating in asset-building efforts generated a new and much broader sense of belonging. They indicated that in schools, other organizations and communities, anonymity was most often the status quo. Their experiences in asset-building organizations and with asset champions stood in stark contrast with most of their experiences. In the context of the asset frame-work, youth found that adults remembered their names and faces. Moreover, adults expressed happiness about their opportunities to meet youth. Adult recognition, or the lack thereof, was identified implicitly and explicitly by youth as a major contributing force in determining youths' sense of belonging in different contexts. Youth reported that asset building created new opportunities for youth to interact with adults. They also found a qualitative difference in their interactions with participating adults: youth explained that they enjoyed the rare experience of being listened to by an adult. One youth stated with surprise, "They're (adults) excited and hearing their (adults') questions, and that they are genuinely interested in what we're doing." Youth further elaborated that it was not just that adults listened, but, more importantly, the way in which adults listened to youth. In the context of asset building, youth indicated that adults sought out their perspectives and opinions on issues that really mattered to organizations and communities.

Forums such as advisory councils placed youth in the position of decision makers, presenters and consultants within organizations and interagency networks. These positions generally created opportunities for youth to work with adults. Based on both interviews and focus groups, close working relationships with adults seemed particularly important in affirming the value of youth roles and contributions toward collective goals. This affirmation created a sense of belonging that often extended beyond a particular class or program to an entire school or agency or community as a whole. One grantee commented on the difference that she/he saw in youth: "Well, I think for the youth, they're just more connected to their communities now. And they're part of something bigger." Data suggested that the formalization of youth roles and close working relationships with adults were significant factors in creating a sense of belonging among participating youth. As described by youth, asset building created a sense of belonging through the new relationships established between adults and youth, and the esteem of youth contributions. Both of these findings can be related back to specific assets identified by Search Institute:

• Asset #3: Other adult relationships
  
• Asset #8: Youth as resources.
  

Based on available data, it appears that asset building, as it occurred during the initiative, contributed to the development of these assets in youth. In the future, the issues identified relating to youths' sense of belonging may help advance the understanding of these particular assets, as well as the indicators that can measure their growth in youth.

Strengthening Youths' Relationships With Others
Another key finding from the focus group study was that youth generally found asset building a powerful force in strengthening and improving relationships with significant individuals in their lives. Youth attributed positive changes in their relationships with family members, teachers and friends to their participation in asset-building projects. Strengthening these relationships, many youth indicated, proved a transforming experience. Some could identify ways in which changes in these relationships translated into other areas of their lives, such as grades. Youth, however, tended to talk more generally about how the assets had changed their "entire outlook" or way of being with others.

A salient factor that youth identified as facilitating a change in these relationships was a shift in their perceptions of adults. Youth indicated that as they witnessed adults listening and working with them differently, they began to question many of the assumptions that they held about adults. One youth explained, "Once I started realizing that there were adults in the community that cared about kids, and wanted to be our friends and talk to us and stuff… it's definitely changed my opinion on adults." A shift in perceptions encouraged many youth to reassess their relationships with the significant adults in their lives, as well as to look for new opportunities to meet, work with and learn from others. At all but one of the case study sites, youth reported having strong and enduring relationships with adults, which supports youths' positive perceptions about the impacts of the assets on relationships.

The following assets best corresponded to the impacts youth described:

• Asset #2: Positive family communication
  
• Asset #14: Adult role models
  
• Asset #33: Interpersonal competence.

Based on available data, the asset building that took place during the initiative contributed to the development of these assets in youth. Future research should further explore the improvements that youth observed in their relationships - specifically the transformative effects that youth identified, the shift in youth perceptions of adults and how strengthened relation-ships functioned to develop these identified assets.

Strengthening Youth Through Skill Building
In addition to enhancing youths' sense of belonging and improving their relationships, young people found that asset building encouraged skill building. Youth explained that their roles in local efforts often placed them in the position of presenting to adults, developing new resources and making decisions that affected programs and policies in communities. Both youth and adults took these positions seriously. This encouraged participants to work together to build the skills of youth in areas such as planning, accounting and public speaking.

Development of these skills, focus group participants suggested, gave youth an important sense of accomplishment. Describing some of the qualitative aspects of these impacts, one grantee confided, "His face was different; he was smiling; he was thrilled; he had accomplished this wonderful task." Beyond creating a sense of achievement, skill building in specific areas also translated into other areas of youths' lives. As one youth explained, "I've learned responsibility and just different things to make better decisions." Focus group and interview data suggested that the assets that were built when youth had the opportunity to work side by side with adults were:

• Asset #16: High expectations
  
• Asset #30: Responsibility
  
• Asset #32: Planning and decision-making.
  

Working on the development of specific skills provided youth with opportunities to build these assets.

Strengthening Youth by Building Self-Confidence and a Positive Future Orientation
The data showed another area of positive impact on young people: self-confidence and a positive outlook on the future. As one youth explained, "It really made me focus on what I want to do in the future, my career and a more successful life." Focus group participants expressed excitement about their future and attributed many of their accomplishments to their involvement in asset building. These youth relayed plans to attend college and to pursue specific career paths. In the more immediate future, youth indicated that they were committed to performing well in school to prepare for the future.

Youth indicated that it was the sense of belonging, accomplishment and acquired skills that made them feel more confident in their capabilities and positive about their futures. Data also revealed a common theme among youths' experiences with the assets: asset-building organizations and asset builders encouraged youth to speak for themselves and to voice their concerns. This appeared to be the common thread that linked the development of a sense of belonging and accomplishment, skills, self-confidence and a positive view of the future in youth.

Many young people believed that learning the 40 developmental assets and applying their definitions to their everyday lives was important. Knowledge of specific assets, youth reported, helped them identify and act upon positive opportunities in their everyday lives. Young people indicated that this self-knowledge contributed to growth in their self-confidence and promoted a more positive outlook on their current and future circumstances.

Collectively, young people's stories about growth in self-confidence and a more positive outlook appeared most tied to building the following assets:

• Asset #21: Achievement motivation
  
• Asset #22: School engagement
  
• Asset #28: Integrity
  
• Asset #37: Personal power
  
• Asset #40: Positive view of personal future.

The data suggested not only that these assets were built, but also that the development of integrity in youth - defined as acting on one's convictions and standing up for one's beliefs - may be leveraged as a means of building other assets, including asset #21, achievement motivation. In other words, integrity appeared to be highly related to building other assets.

Emergence of Youth Asset Builders
The emergence of youth asset builders also was identified as an important impact of assets on young people. Many grantees explicitly targeted this outcome with a focus on training youth to become presenters in the asset framework in communities. However, focus group and interview data suggested that even when asset building was not defined as a formal role for youth, youth tended to hone their ability to build assets in their own and other individuals' lives. Learning about the asset framework and specific developmental assets helped youth direct their energies toward positive change.

Youth explained that their participation in local asset-building initiatives helped them more clearly see the link between their own individual actions and positive change in the broader community. Youth reported that the assets inspired them to take care of the community, to see beyond differences and to feel empathy toward others. One young person said that the assets inspire youth "to live a better life and be a better person." For many youth, this meant making others feel good about themselves. In their daily interactions, youth reported, they began to see opportunities to positively impact others and to develop an understanding of the importance of building assets.

Youth could identify many ways that their individual asset-building efforts affected others, including:

• Parents became better communicators with their children
  
• Youth learned how to talk more effectively to adults
  
• Adults became involved in asset building
  
• Assets were nurtured in other youth
  
• Youth became role models for other youth.

Given these findings, teaching youth about the framework and its application may be an important mechanism for nurturing the following assets:

• Asset #26: Caring
  
• Asset #27: Equality and social justice
  
• Asset #33: Interpersonal competence.

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