Colorado Youth Development Team

 

Client

 

Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment

 

 

Funder

 

State Strategic Use Funds, Colorado Works 

 

 

Stakeholders

 

The Colorado Youth Development Team (CYDT) is a statewide public/private partnership of youth and adults who care about young people. CYDT’s key team members include representatives from public health, education, human services, labor, behavioral health, juvenile justice, safety, youth services, development & advocacy, and non-profit at the state and local levels.  

 

 

Description

 

Convened November 2007, CYDT aims to integrate positive youth development (PYD) principles and strategies into all programs, policies, organizations and community efforts that affect youth and young adults to enhance the services, opportunities and supports within their communities. PYD is an approach, not a program, that guides communities in developing and implementing services, opportunities and supports so that young people can be engaged and reach their full potential.1 PYD is a shift in the way we view youth and young adults. CYDT advocates and supports agencies, organizations and communities in working with young people as resources to cultivate as opposed to problems to fix, and in institutionalizing the seven guiding principles of PYD. PYD is dependent on the incorporation of the following guiding principles: a strengths-based approach, youth engagement, youth-adult partnerships, cultural responsiveness, inclusive of all youth, collaboration and sustainability.

 

In the winter of 2008-09, CYDT conducted exploratory research on existing policies and practices that support PYD in Colorado, challenges that exist and diverse community members’ suggestions for moving Colorado forward in creating a community that supports all young people to achieve their full potential. Based on this research, the CYDT is focused on increasing the awareness of the effectiveness of a PYD approach; increasing the skills for adults to utilize a PYD approach; creating the guidance for organizations, agencies and communities to institutionalize a PYD approach; and to connect and support youth and adult leaders for increased youth engagement and voice in organizations, agencies and communities.

 

 

Products

 

External Links

 

For more information about CYDT, please contact Anne-Marie Braga at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment: Ambraga@cdphe.state.co.us.

1. National Research Council & Institute of Medicine. (2002). Community Programs to Promote Youth Development. Committee on Community-Level Programs for Youth. J. Eccles & J. Gootman, eds. Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences