Quarterly Bulletins

Welcome to the Next Generation Youth Work Coalition's Bulletins. The bulletins include professional development/workforce promising practices, highlights of relevant projects, events in the field and more. The goal of the Coalition is to help achieve the vision of a strong, valued youth work profession through documentation, education and communications activities and by serving as a locus for joint action and collaboration within the field.

In this edition of the Next Gen Bulletin, we've got news on a newly established Leadership Council that serves as a "who's who" of organizations and individuals. Also, find out what's been happening in phase two of the Career Pathways Project, what Next Gen talked about at the 2009 National Afterschool Association conference, a coming program database and much more.

In this issue, we summarize the work three learning groups have been doing with recently awarded mini-grants. These grants focus on three major areas: External Communications, Policy and Higher Education. Also, read about the latest course being offered in New York in after-school, a youth worker's perspective in Vermont, a new Next Gen Toolkit and more.

In this edition, learn about promising practices in San Francisco at their Department of Children, Youth and Families, a new workforce planning portal from Cornerstones for Kids and more. Also, read the story of a youth worker at Youthline and learn about the latest news in other child and youth fields that impacts youth workers.

This edition of the Next Gen Bulletin focuses on lessons we can learn from the United Kingdom about recruiting, retaining and supporting youth workers. Deborah Craig and Elaine Johnson, who attended the U.K.'s Community Youth Worker Union Conference this May as representatives of the Next Gen Coalition, share observations from their trip. As always, there is an article written by a youth worker; in this case, Mandy Revel from the U.K.

Thank you for your ongoing support and interest in the Next Generation Youth Work Coalition. With the commitment of many organizations and individuals, we have been able to accomplish a lot in the last year, including a major study focused on front-line youth workers that yielded important new information about the youth development and after-school workforce.

This edition of the Next Generation Youth Work Coalition Bulletin shares some of the highlights of our recent gathering, including insights from frontline youth workers, information on the new study, highlights on parallel work in the UK and New Zealand, and the latest Action Agenda of the Coalition.

The Next Generation Youth Work Coalition brings together individuals and organizations dedicated to developing a strong, diverse youth work workforce that is stable, prepared, supported and committed to the wellbeing and empowerment of young people.

This issue begins with a picture of what it might look like when we have achieved progress in the five key areas that help build the youth work profession: standards and competencies; professional development and training resources; learning delivery systems; career ladders and compensation guidelines and research and evaluation systems.

In this issue of the Bulletin you'll find an interview with Vanessa Varko, a youth worker from the Bay Area; promising practices for attracting, developing and retaining youth workers from local organizations; highlights of relevant projects and events in the field; insights from the education field about salary incentives and certification; and an opportunity for you to weigh in about shaping the future of this Coalition and the future of the youth work profession.