Counseling

Written by YouthBuild USA under contract with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, these handbooks are designed to help people run effective YouthBuild programs in their communities. They include the HUD YouthBuild Program Manual, Construction Training at a YouthBuild Program, Leadership Development at a YouthBuild Program, Counseling at a YouthBuild Program, Education at a YouthBuild Program, and Opportunities for Graduates of a YouthBuild Program.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Employment and Training Administration (ETA) has set as an overarching priority for the entire workforce investment system the need to meet the demands of business by providing adults and youth with the necessary educational, occupational, and other skills training and services needed for high demand occupations. ETA’s Strategic Vision for the Delivery of Youth Services under the Workforce Investment Act is committed to promoting and implementing a performance-driven system targeted at the neediest population that will reach youth, particularly out-of school youth, who have been disconnected from mainstream institutions and systems. To meet this need, ETA has set as a priority that youth programs invest resources to focus on serving specific disadvantaged youth populations and to provide well-designed and coordinated programs that prepare the most at-risk and neediest youth for job opportunities.

Facilitator's Guide to Managing Your Stress Workshop, presented at the 2009 YouthBuild Transformation Institute in Chicago.

As youth workers, our goal is to run a successful program in which young people are respected, their ideas are taken seriously, they are part of the decision-making of the program, they feel cared about by staff and they are learning real and important skills. If we achieve this goal, then, whether we like it or not, the young people will lay in our laps a lot of the pain they are carrying around from racism, poverty and personal family background. It doesn't matter what our official job title is. Most of us will wear the counselor's hat at times.

Published in Perspectives on Youth, Winter/Spring 2004.

To be successful in our work with young people, we must understand a particular condition of youth: that young people
are often mistreated and disrespected simply because they are young. The word adultism refers to behaviors and attitudes based on the assumption that adults are better than young people, and entitled to act upon young people without their agreement.  This mistreatment is reinforced by social institutions, laws, customs, and attitudes.  The essence of adultism is disrespect of the young. In our society, for the most part, young people are considered less important than and inferior to adults. They are not taken seriously and not included as decision makers in the broader life of their communities. 

As staff and program directors we are an intimate part of the complicated process of youth transformation.  Like the young people, we are at different levels in our own development.  Each of us has conscious or unconscious aspirations to reach for our highest human potential.  In our heart of hearts, what we most want for the young people we work with is to provide the environment for them to reach their highest aspirations.  When we look back at our own transformations, for most of us there was at least one caring, skillful adult who hung in there with us over a period of time, on whom we relied for some combination of encouragement, challenge, information, guidance, teaching, validation, and love; who believed in us until we believed in ourselves.

Creating Partnerships with The Home Depot, How to Develop a YouthBuild Prep Program, Combining Construction and Counseling, and Setting Up Individual Development Accounts for YouthBuild Participants.

Youthbuild Innovations is published by Youthbuild USA under contract with the Office of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). YouthBuild Innovations is intended to broaden the benefits of the HUD Youthbuild national training conferences. The newsletter highlights creative and effective ideas that have emerged directly from conference activities and discussions among YouthBuild practitioners.

Dealing with Substance Abuse in Yuba County; Program Blends Tough Measures with Support

Youthbuild Innovations is published by Youthbuild USA under contract with the Office of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). YouthBuild Innovations is intended to broaden the benefits of the HUD Youthbuild national training conferences. The newsletter highlights creative and effective ideas that have emerged directly from conference activities and discussions among YouthBuild practitioners.

Mentoring, Gaining Exposure for Your YouthBuild Program, Creating Photojournals, and The YouthBuild Carpentry Challenge.

Youthbuild Innovations is published by Youthbuild USA under contract with the Office of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). YouthBuild Innovations is intended to broaden the benefits of the HUD Youthbuild national training conferences. The newsletter highlights creative and effective ideas that have emerged directly from conference activities and discussions among YouthBuild practitioners.

Youthbuild Tips is produced by YouthBuild USA under contract with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.  This is the first issue of Youthbuild Tips, a newsletter designed to provide practical solutions for the everyday issues Youthbuild programs face.

This issue focuses on tackling substance abuse issues in the field: practices in Yuba County and San Joaquin YouthBuild programs.