Youth not only represent future leaders, producers, and citizens, but they are an extremely valuable resource. Thousands of Central Ohio youth volunteer their time and talents to state and community projects. Thousands more contribute economically through part-time employment. It is vitally important to cultivate young people’s leadership potential. Not all learning and development takes place in the classroom. By providing young people with additional opportunities and supports, LeaderSpark gives them the skills they need to fully develop as leaders and decision-makers.

 

We know that young people who have a say in and share responsibility for their schools, cities, and local organizations are invested in the future of their communities. Meaningful and developmentally needed leadership opportunities create and enhance young people’s connections and contributions to the larger community. The skills young people develop through meaningful opportunities to be engaged can be used throughout their lives. Decision-making opportunities teach young people about communication, collaboration, critical thinking, community ownership, and democracy while building permanent connections to the people, communities, and organizations with which they are involved. By valuing full youth participation in addressing the issues that face our our communities, we recognize that youth are uniquely qualified to say what works for young people.

 

Providing all young people with consistent access to the experiences, connections, and supports they need requires the involvement and commitment of people throughout Franklin County. By uniting and coordinating efforts toward a shared vision, engaging businesses, educators, faith institutions, and broadening awareness of the importance of youth development, we can build the momentum necessary for sustained and effective change efforts.

 

 

GOAL: Create Collective Impact in Franklin County with targeted partners to increase community demand for better supports and opportunities for youth. This doesn’t mean partnering with everyone who works with youth.  Our goal is to partner with people who believe what we believe: in order to best serve youth, you need to co-create with the youth.

 

 

PRIORITY ACTION AREAS:

• Engage new stakeholders and institutionalize a state-level youth development infrastructure.

• Market a unified youth development vision by incorporating Ohio’s Community Connector’s language in individual and joint communications.

• Support communities’ efforts to build awareness, support families, and mobilize local partners to fulfill Ohio’s goal for healthy youth & healthy community.

• Explore opportunities to partner with the private sector in employing and supporting youth, especially vulnerable youth, to meet current and future workforce needs.

 

The Five Priorities:

 

1. Caring adult support in a peer to peer model trained to ignite the spark in youth.

2. Safe places and constructive use of time.

3. Healthy life skill development.

4. Effective education for marketable skills and lifelong learning.

5. Opportunities to make a difference through helping others community service projects.

 

 

Evaluating Impact

 

Through pre and post evaluations that provide a comprehensive snapshot of the current experiences of our participants,we understand the story behind the numbers.  We will be continually tracking progress toward results, which are essential to informed decision-making. Leading youth development indicators can be tracked at the state and local levels and provide quantifiable markers of progress toward the shared results. The following are examples of the key indicators that are being monitored to help guide policy and program decisions. In-depth data analysis is underway to dig beneath the surface of these indicators and more fully understand trends among youth.

 

 

LeaderSpark’s Attitudes and Altitudes (A2) survey measures eight principal asset domains: support, empowerment, boundaries and expectations, priority management, commitment to learning, positive values, social competencies, and positive identity. In combination with a survey that identifies a set of skills, experiences, relationships, and behaviors which enable young people to develop into successful and contributing adults.