Our Overall Strategy Youth Strategies' effort on behalf of at-risk youth is two fold. We work to address the barriers these young people face and we provide relationships, environments, and resources that enable them to transition from adolescence to adulthood...from dependence on public assistance to skills that will lead to autonomy.
Youth Strategies is an advocate and liaison between at-risk youth and their needs to the services available through agencies, organizations, businesses, and churches. We have developed these strategies from identified best practices for at-risk youth development.
Social Enterprise Social Enterprises are businesses that operate for a community benefit. Youth Strategies’ enterprises exist to provide jobs and job training opportunities for young people with high risk factors, or barriers, and little to no work experience. (More)
Community Bike Shop is a bike repair shop that presently services bikes from the Springdale, Siloam Springs, and Rogers school systems along with walk- ins off the street. We are located in downtown Springdale. (More)
The Green Team is a lawn care service we will be starting up in April of 2011. The Green Team will be a continuation of our Social Enterprise strategy. (More)
Collaboration Collaboration is an essential core strategy for Youth Strategies. Collaboration leverages the expertise, resources, and manpower of all partners in the collaboration. It exponentially increases our ability to reach, serve, and impact our area youth. (More)
Service Learning - Job Training/Readiness We conduct year-round workshops, a summer jobs program , and will start our internship program this fall. These programs include speakers from the business community, education, non-profit agencies, WorkForce staff and clergy. We cover a variety of material including:
Soft Skills Training
Goal Setting
Time Management
Communication Skills
Resume Building
Conflict Resolution
Point of Contact
Personal Finances
Community Service
Mock Interviews
Physical Health Plan
Personality Inventories
Our 7 Core Values
Arkansas Career Readiness Certificate
Management Skills
Team Building
Over the past two years we have worked with over 280 young people and have placed 53 students from the Alternative Learning Environment in Summer jobs. The staff of the WorkForce center in Fayetteville, Arkansas have been very helpful in the development of this program.
Community Service Community Service has been identified by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices as a critical component of any at-risk youth development program. Community service provides a unique experience for at-risk youth by allowing them to give something meaningful back to their community. Our participants have assisted the elderly with yard work, nursing homes, rehab centers, community centers, programs for kids with disabilities, wheel chair ramps, non-profit agencies, etc... We believe these experiences help develop the kinds of character traits that will impact them for the rest of their lives. Community service opportunities take place throughout the year.
Mentoring Mentoring is a critical part of our program. The National Governors Association Center of Best Practices states that programs that foster structured relationships between adults and youth have more positive outcomes. Adults from the community as well as students from the University of Arkansas and John Brown University help us provide those structured relationships. They are essential to helping us identify and address the barriers these young people face. They help us make referrals to appropriate agencies to address these barriers. They are also our front line in meeting these young people's physical needs.
Champions Program Our Champions are our business partners that have signed on to hire our clients on a part time basis as a continuation of their internship. They provide a variety of support including speakers for our year round program at the Alternative Learning Environment, professional on-site supervision, and career development tools for our participants.
Adventure Camping Our Adventure program includes backpacking, cycling, kayaking, and canoing. We utilize these outdoor adventures to help us with team building, personal growth, and relationship building. Disengaging from their unproductive routines and thinking outside the box about who they are, where they are headed, and what it will take to get there makes adventure camping a very effective tool in reaching these young people.
Strategies
Copyright 2005-2010 Youth Strategies, PO Box 107, Springdale AR 72765