Community Building - Youth Leadership Academy
community building:
youth leadership academy
Youth Link's Youth Leadership Academy (YLA) is a curriculum-based program that builds leadership skill and a shared positive culture among groups of youth. YLA can be used to unite and strengthen a single group of youth or it can be repeated with multiple groups as part of a larger youth strategy. Youth workers, teachers, police and parents can be co-trained along with youth in order to develop adult-youth partnerships and communities can develop their own YLA training teams with Youth Link consultation and support.
YLA is usually delivered through a series of twice-weekly sessions over four months. This format allows a meaningful culture of belonging and peer accountability to develop. Sessions evolve from being instructional to becoming a group support to youth as they learn to assume roles as peer leaders.
The short-term outcomes for participants are (1) to demonstrate an increased sense of respect for self and others; (2) and the ability to make better personal choices. The curriculum is adaptable but always flows from a consistent set of core values that include:
- Confidence
- Courage
- Commitment
- Community
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