Welcome To The World of Youth Development

Khadijah Ali-Coleman welcomes visitors to the new youth development site.

A youth worker is someone who works with young people-- whether they be a teacher, coach, after-school worker, parent, etc.As a youth worker professional, I am encouraged in my work when I learn of new ways to bring youth workers together to learn strategies that work best when we work with young people. I've found that the Advancing Youth Development (AYD) theory developed by the National Training Institute (NTI) best captures the essence of what it is we do and puts it into a language that can make our terminology consistent and describe the work we do in a descriptive way that validates what we do in a meaningful way. The curriculum for this theory also goes one step further and introduces concepts such as adultism into our consciousness to help us explore what baggage we bring with us when we are interacting with youth.

As you visit this site, you will find discussion and resources that will aid you in your understanding and involvement in youth work. Working with young people is an often challenging and thankless job that requires dedication, compassion and training not often expected in other fields. I will also use vocabulary that you will find helpful to use when describing those pivotal things you implement within your programming to best meet the needs of your population.