by Jessica Carreras
When Affirmations shut down their youth program for three weeks in late May and early June to "revamp" the effort, it followed a half year where the program had no leader at all, following the departure of previous Youth Coordinator Laura Sorenson. Funding for the position – as well as for many other programs and operational costs – was gone with the collapse of the Big Three, who pulled out over $50,000 worth of funding from the center. Part of that funding went directly to the youth program.
And though the program persevered without a youth coordinator, Affirmations CEO Leslie Thompson said the center is finally ready to move on and make some big changes.
"We've always looked at helping (youth) with leadership issues and opportunities to impact their own life and the lives of others, but it was just such a different environment from our old building to our new building that the youth program didn't grow and evolve as did the participants and the number of youth," Thompson said. "We really needed to step back and – we needed a different approach."
The program and youth staff, said Thompson, spent those three youth-less weeks researching ways to change their programming to better fit the needs of the hundreds of middle and high school-aged kids that come through the center's doors. Led by Program Coordinator Knoll Larkin, who has since left Affirmations, the group discovered a model for youth development programs from the Search Institute in Minneapolis that fit exactly what they're looking for. "The youth staff are going to be doing an intake process with each of the youth," explained Thompson, "and using the Search Institute's developmental assets program to ascertain where each of the youth are on these assets."
The assets, designed to assess the needs of adolescents ages 12-18, focus on 20 external and 20 internal facets of developing healthy late childhoods to help them grow into productive adults.
The external assets focus on such issues as familial and friend support, the school climate, roll models, peer influence and social activities such as religious involvement, youth programs and creative activities like music, writing or art.
Internal assets address such issues as personal values, commitment to school and reading and making the right decisions in social situations.
Though Thompson acknowledges that Affirmations won't be able to address all of these issues, she hopes the center will be able to touch on at least 20 – especially ones that pertain to life as an LGBT youth, such as dealing with problems in school and with peers. "We'll know with each youth what it is they need to focus on and maybe need some additional mentoring or leadership in," she said. "So, while there will still be group-based programming, the staff will be able to do some individual focusing on the youth to help them in areas that they're needing support."
And, the program will have a new leader with the hiring of a youth manager. Thompson explained that the position is slightly different from a youth coordinator in that they are looking for someone with more experience and a skill set that can help implement the Search Institute's developmental assets program. They hope to fill the position by the end of the month.
While they were unable to hire a youth manager earlier in the year due to fiscal losses, funding from several grants, personal donors and other sources has secured the position's future for the time being. The largest donation was a $10,000 grant from the Skillman Foundation, to be put solely toward the youth program.
Another funder, the HOPE Fund, has set Affirmations up with a Challenge Grant. If the center is able to raise $25,000 over the next few months, the foundation will match the amount.
A significant amount of the new funding is going toward the youth program, which Thompson said makes up the largest part of the center's activity. And with the revamped developmental assets program in place, she has high hopes that it will become even larger.
But before working with the 20 or so assets, said Thompson, the youth manager and their team's first job will be to assess the needs of individual youth through an intake program. Youth will be questioned about their needs, goals and things they'd like to improve on. From there, Affirmations youth staff will help each youth to formulate a program at the center catered specifically to them.
Eventually, said Thompson, the center will provide more than just after school programming or special events – it will become a place where LGBT youth can grow and thrive.
"There will be better understanding of the youth's individual needs, rather than saying here's this program for everyone and everyone's going to be given the same opportunities within this program," Thompson explained. "The staff will have a better understanding about which youth might need a little bit more direction or assistance. So it might be about self-esteem, it might be about a positive outlook for the future, it might be understanding that they have the capacities for higher education.
"I think you're going to see a much better connection with the staff and the youth."
