Youth Development Insight

By Joanna Tzenis Before you read this, type "Somali youth Minnesota" into your Google search engine. Take a look at the stories that populate and see if you see a pattern. Did you do it?  What did you notice? What did you learn? I'm not trying to direct you to other sources of information about the Minnesota's biggest immigrant group. Instead, I want to draw your attention to an issue hindering the positive development of Somali American youth in Minnesota.

By Brian McNeill Summer is approaching and families are thinking about summer camp. Camps can be a great experience for children and come in a variety of formats. Let’s talk about how you can promote age-appropriate camp experiences when parents ask, “Is my child ready for camp? How might she benefit from it? The American Camping Association believes an organized camp experience is a vital component in the development and education of the whole child. Various organizations have found that through camp, youth: develop lifelong skills acquire independence unplug from technology learn social skills and how to meet new friends According to the YMCA , camping teaches self-reliance, a love for nature and the outdoors and the development of attitudes and practices that build character and leadership. But how can we help parents choose a camp for their child? Camp formats vary. Some communities offer day camps -- a great way to gradually introduce the camp experience for both th

By Margo Bowerman Let’s be honest – program planning is hard work. Program planning tools help, but they can be downright overwhelming to use! There are as many ways to do program planning as there are programs. In Cooperative Extension organizations around the country, the logic model is a well used and vetted system. The University of Wisconsin has excellent resources for how to use logic models in program planning. Public health organizations offer some excellent models – the Centers for Disease Control and the Rand Corporation have some great resources. And all these models vary in the number of steps they include and how they are described.