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