Youth Leadership Program
The goal of the Youth Leadership Program is to expose middle and high school students to a variety of leadership and community development concepts in order for them to more successfully engage in their schools and communities. The program aims to be highly interactive in nature and covers a wide range of topics including team building, characteristics of effective leadership, decision making techniques and community asset mapping. Additional topics could include advancing communication and conflict resolution skills. Workshops can be designed to fit the needs of the school and students in a ½ day, full day or multi-day format.
Youth today are involved in many different groups (service clubs and sports teams, for example) within their schools and communities. Although, many of these youth are highly adept at operating within these groups, there are additional skills that they can learn and practice, which can help them to be even more successful as leaders and participants within these groups. Additionally, for rural communities to grow and thrive, youth need to be included in community projects and planning processes. Youth that have honed their leadership skills can more easily “cross over” and work effectively with community organizations and local governments.
The Youth Leadership Program is for students from middle and high school that want to gain additional leadership skills and/or learn more about the communities within which they live. The program could appeal specifically to leadership clubs, councils, and service clubs.
The program will benefit students by allowing them to explore both the strengths that they already possess as leaders, and additional skills that they can learn and practice to help them be more highly successful leaders and participants in the groups they are involved with in their schools and communities. They will also learn community development concepts that will help them understand and successfully navigate through the communities within which they live.
Examples of workshops led or planned as part of the Youth Leadership Program:
- A 1-day Youth Leadership Training in Walla Walla, Washington with high school and community college students
- A 2-day Conflict Resolution Training in Kings Valley, Oregon with middle school students
- A multi-day Leadership Training at Warm Springs Reservation with high school students involved in the Eagle Tech Youth Entrepreneurship Program
- A 1-day Meyers Briggs and Community Development Training in Nestucca, Oregon with high school students from the Nestucca Valley Development Council – Fall, 2007
- An eight week (1 day/week) Leadership Class in Mill City, Oregon with high school students – Fall, 2007
RURAL DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES
2620 River Road, Suite 205 . Eugene, Oregon 97404 . phone 541-684-9077 . fax 541-684-8993