Biomedical subjects

Michael Surko

Publications and source records attributed to Michael Surko.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Capacity-building for youth workers through community-based partnerships.

Although positive youth development (PYD) is increasingly influential in the field of youth programming, core knowledge and competencies for youth workers continue to be defined. Youth serving agencies throughout the United States face serious obstacles in the creation of a stable and well-trained workforce, despite the presence of many talented and resourceful individuals who work with youth in the community. One strategy for organizational and staff development is through PYD-oriented, community-based partnerships designed to enhance youth worker knowledge and competence. Two different partnerships are described in this report. The first brought together experts in youth work, health, and trauma, and focused on improving youth worker response to psychologic trauma commonly experienced by urban youth. This partnership used an iterative reflective practice approach to describe best practices in youth work. The second partnership strategically taught evaluation skills to youth program consumers, AmeriCorps service members, and adult youth workers to advance youth-adult partnerships. These exemplars demonstrate that partnerships can drive systems for improving competencies in youth workers and the capacities of youth services.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Selecting statewide youth development outcome indicators.

This article presents the process used to develop a set of statewide positive youth development (YD) outcome indicators to complement existing adolescent well-being indicators in New York State (NYS). Intended uses included program and community-, county-, and state-level planning; grant writing; evaluation; and outcome monitoring in coordination with national YD-oriented initiatives. A common set of metrics, if adopted, would promote consistency and information sharing across levels and purposes. A workgroup of the NYS Youth Development Team reviewed existing indicators and accepted nominations from NYS stakeholders. Input from Youth Development Team members and national YD experts was used to narrow the list to 91. Forty-one NYS policy makers performed card sorts and ratings of the indicators, and a concept-mapping process, employing hierarchical cluster analysis, identified nine clusters of items. The policy makers, along with 121 NYS program providers and 91 young adults (aged 18-21) rated the indicators from 1 ("not important") to 5 ("very important"). All intergroup correlations of ratings were 0.93 or greater, and therefore responses were analyzed together. The concept map and mean indicator ratings were used to select a short list of 15 indicators. Although respondents were intentionally given a mix of problem-focused, risk-focused, and strength-based items, the highest rated items were almost exclusively strength based.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Targeting evaluations of youth development-oriented community partnerships.

Community-based partnerships (CBPs) focused on youth development (YD) have the potential to improve public health outcomes. These partnerships also present opportunities for the design and implementation of innovative, community-level change strategies, which ultimately may result in new capacities for positive YD. Evaluation-driven learning and improvement frameworks facilitate the achievement of these partnership-related benefits. Partnerships are complex because they embody multiple levels of intervention (eg, youth-serving programs, youth participation as partners or evaluators, network development for collaborative projects and resource sharing, YD-oriented organizational or community policy change). This inherent complexity transfers to evaluations of CBPs. This article provides resources for meeting evaluation-related challenges. It includes a framework for articulating relevant evaluation questions for YD-oriented CBPs, a summary of relevant types of evaluation studies, and practical solutions to common evaluation problems using targeted evaluation studies. Concrete examples of relevant, small-scale evaluation studies are provided throughout.

Adolescent↗