Introduction toDevelopmental Assets forYouth RTM 300What do children and youth need to becomehealthy, caring, and responsible citizens? Key Question•Basic human needs‚Food, shelter, health, work, safety•Reduce risks and deficits‚Substance abuse, lack education, STD, violence,delinquency•Developmental assets‚Positive development to create strengths andcapabilitiesYouth DevelopmentThe Three Broad Approaches•THE BUILDING BLOCKS - the target•Involves multiple social units•Intervention from both directions‚- Bottom up: Grassroots‚- Top Down: Organizations, Systems, Leadership•Acknowledges economic factor and riskbehaviorsAssets Approach•Focuses on ties of assets to successmarkers as well as risk behaviors•Focuses on what about culture has to dowith developing youthAssets Approach•- National: 17% below poverty line‚20k or less•38% live below 40k yearlyEconomic Well Being (Basic Needs)•10 million children die each year•3 billion survive on less than $2 bucks aday•Poverty is the ultimate risk factorGlobally - Economic Well BeingIs poverty the ultimate risk factor?•65% of adolescence engage in riskbehaviors‚Add example from textHigh Risk Behaviors•65.7 percent of youth (2003) engage in oneor more of these risk behaviors including‚3 or more uses of alcohol in previous month‚Daily cigarette use‚3 or more uses of illegal drugs in past year‚Sexual intercourse three or more times‚3 or more acts of violence‚Frequent depression or suicide‚Driving (or riding with others) after drinking‚Gambling 3 or more times in past year‚Repeated absenteeism from school See text p.5Survey of High Risk Factors•Understand the cultural factors that workagainst building assets•The seventh generation principle‚evaluating every key decision for how this will effect thechildren 7 generations from now•Parenting principle‚Lead a child in the path he should go and when olderthey will not stray from itWe need to look at the Culture thatraises the themWe must find and name that secret road thathas led American society in such a brief timefrom a moderately disciplined andmoderately respectful culture to a culturewhere 12 year olds shoot each other andCalvin Klein uses children for sexuallyexplicit advertisements. Robert Bly quoteThe influence of culture•Isolation of youth from adults‚Lack of contact with adults beyond family‚Lack of sustained involvement (e.g. constant change)•Isolation of families from one another•Fragmented social systems•Silence and inconsistency aboutboundaries and values•Privacy and civic disengagement ratherthan shared vision for community(From class comments or text)What are some of the factors that workagainst building assets in youth?•Lack of parental involvement at home•Media influence on values•Fame based culture•Materialism assigns value•Rise in violence and bullyingOther culture factors for discussion What are some of the factors that workagainst building assets in youth?•External Assets‚1. Support‚2. Empowerment‚3. Boundaries and expectations‚4. Constructive use of time•Internal Assets‚5. Commitment to learning‚6. Positive values‚7. Social competencies‚8. Positive identityYouth DevelopmentThe Structure of the