Special Projects
YDTRC frequently performs contractual services in collaboration with other youth-serving agencies to provide training, technical assistance, and/or consultation on special projects. These unique projects may extend over days, months, or even years. If you have an idea for a youth development project and would like to collaborate with us, or have questions about our past or present projects, please contact Deborah Stewart at (203) 789-7645.
Neighborhood Youth Center Project (2003-2007)
YDTRC and The Consultation Center provide training on youth engagement
strategies and on-site technical assistance to 12
Neighborhood Youth Centers located in 6 cities (Bridgeport,
Hartford, New Britain, New Haven, Norwalk, and Waterbury). The goal for the Neighborhood Youth Centers (NYCs) is
to increase youth involvement in the planning, design, and
evaluation of developmentally age-appropriate activities for
urban youth, 12-18 years of age. Youth involvement is a key component of each
center’s activities, from youth who help to administer the
surveys at their center, to youth serving on planning teams,
to youth designing and implementing a community project. A
fall showcase will feature the Mini Grant projects completed
by each center’s youth team.
This project, funded by the State of Connecticut Office of Policy and Management (OPM), will run from July 2005-2007.This is the second two-year cycle of YDTRC consultation, support, and technical assistance for selected urban youth centers across the state. The first cycle, from 2003 to 2004, took place with many of the same centers. In addition to federal funding, OPM contracts with the School of Family Studies at the University of Connecticut for program assessment and evaluation, which includes a survey for both youth participants and center staff. The funding includes training and on-site technical assistance to the centers provided by YDTRC and The Consultation Center.
YDTRC facilitates active youth participation in the development of action plans related to the four survey areas: Supportive Relationships; Safety; Meaningful Involvement; and Challenging Activities. As part of the 2003-04 project, YDTRC also developed a Youth Participation Notebook: Recipes for Youth Engagement that outlines six strategies for involving youth in meaningful community projects. Strategies include youth in community service, youth as advocates, youth as funders, youth on advisory groups, peer educators and youth as entrepreneurs. For more information, contact Deborah Stewart at (203) 789-7645.
Community Service Project (2003-2005)
The goal of this federally funded pilot project was to offer youth who
would otherwise have been suspended or expelled from school
a unique opportunity – to participate in community service
activities instead. As
part of a two-year contract between The Consultation
Center (TCC) and the
Connecticut State Department of Education,
YDTRC staff provided training and resource materials to
those working with suspended and expelled youth in five school districts and their community agency partners in
Connecticut . The Consultation Center provided on-site
technical assistance and consultation on the
implementation, as well as evaluation services (provided
through the Service System Evaluation unit at TCC).
For more information on the results or the process, contact
Terry Freeman, project manager and Director of the
Adolescent Area at The Consultation Center, at (203)
789-7645 ext. 109.
After School Finance Institute (2002-2004)
Under a
contract with the Fairfield County Community Foundation, YDTRC provided resource
assistance, consultation and technical assistance to four cities in order to help formulate plans for sustaining
after-school networks and program activities for children,
youth and families. YDTRC served as the in-state
resource while The Finance Project,
a specialized
non-profit firm for public and private sector leaders
nationwide, served as the primary trainer and
facilitator for the series of four sessions on
sustainability planning. For more information on this
project, please contact Karen Brown, Program Director at the
Fairfield County Community Foundation, at (203) 834-9393. You may also call Barbara Langford or Michelle Ganow
Smith at The Finance Project at (202) 587-1004.