Seeing Youth As Assets
A youth development approach to working with young people is focused on the notion “youth are an asset to be developed” rather than a problem to be fixed. If you look at more traditional approaches to working with youth the pattern has been to identify a problem—for example using drugs and alcohol—and then developing a program to address the problem and hopefully convince youth they should avoid these pitfalls. The problem with this approach is the use of drugs and alcohol happen in an environment with many more pressures than just those 2. In other words, the context in which the challenge occurs is not addressed. Youth development, on the other hand, acknowledges every youth has talents and intelligence and the ability to make a “best choice” for oneself is not accidental but influenced holistically rather than singular item by singular item. It also understands the context in which youth live and provides them the support and scaffolding needed to be resilient and course correct if need be.
You may ask, “What does it take to develop an asset?” Whether that asset is youth or a financial investment, to develop the asset takes time, care, and belief. We have to continue to remember “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” Most things take time. This is certainly true in human development and it is equally true as we accrue interest and compound it over time. Do you remember the challenge of which represents the most money, $3M or a penny doubled every day for a month? When you do this challenge you recognize the importance of time as an asset is developed. The second thing we need if we are going to develop an asset is to take care to ensure the asset is not compromised or damaged–that the asset is nurtured and cultivated, giving it the best chance to thrive. Whether we are taking care of youth or taking care of a financial investment, we must be mindful to “tend the garden” and be sure it has what it needs. We must continually clear away the debris and the hype and look at what is real and true. Finally, we need to believe in the asset. We chose to make an investment in either youth or our financial portfolio. We made this decision after some “due diligence”, and unless we know of particular changes which will alter that believe, we need to stick with it. Think about what happens when investors bail out because they panic. Think about what happens to youth when a mentor gives up on them. It is important we stay the course and believe in the assets we are developing.
As youth workers, investments of time, care, and belief are given to children and youth every day. They are truly champions for youth!
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