Life Skill Development-General
Number of unique resources found: 84
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Description: The Student Voices Project encourages the civic engagement of young people by bringing the study of local government, policy issues, and political campaigns into the classroom.
Description: Casey Life Skills is for young people age 8 and above, their caregivers, and child welfare professionals and educators who serve youth. Here you will find free and easy to use tools to help young people prepare for adulthood. The life skills assessments provide instant feedback. Customized learning plans provide a clear outline of next steps, and the accompanying teaching resources are available for free or at a minimal cost.
Description: Teams of youth ages 8-18 conduct oral interviews and develop oral reports on a variety of topics from a youth perspective.
Description: Description of instruments that assess adolescent decision-making skills.
Description: Interactive Girl Scouts web site for girls ages 5-17.
Internet Public Library: Money and Work Resources for Teens
Description: This section of the Internet Public Library Teen Space is about earning, saving, and spending money. It includes sections on consumer information, job hunting, personal finance, and financial aid.
Life Skill Development Through 4-H Clubs: The Perspective of 4-H Alumni 
Author: Fox, Janet (4 more by this author); Debra Schroeder; Kathleen Lodl
Description: “The study described was designed to determine if 4-H alumni perceived themselves as having gained life skills through the 4-H Club experience and, if so, to what degree. The study featured examination of 32 life skills divided into four theme areas: Technical skills, Communication skills, Personal/social skills, and Leadership skills. "
Money Talks - Should I Be Listening?
Description: The Money Talks - Should I Be Listening? series (part of the Money Talks for Teens program) consists of six teen guides: Money Personality, Savings Made Simple, Shopping Savvy, Car Costs, Hunger Attack!, and Privacy, Please! Each teen guide, available in English or Spanish, is accompanied by the leader's guide and online activities. In the Listening series teens learn to identify their values and goals related to money, discuss the importance of starting to save early, distinguish between needs and wants, examine smart shopping skills, explore the costs of owning a car, identify ways to cut food costs, and identify steps to take to protect personal information.
Description: PBS TeacherSource materials are developed by trained and practicing educators.
Search Institute: Practical Research Benefiting Children & Youth
Description: The Search Institute conducts research and evaluation, develops publications and practical tools, and provides training and technical assistance. The institute collaborates with others to promote long-term organizational and cultural change that supports the healthy development of all children and adolescents.
Description: Everything you ever wanted to know about finding financial aid -- you can even apply on-line for grants or loans on this U.S. Department of Education site.
Description: TakingITGlobal (TIG) is about encouraging young people to believe in themselves and their ability to make a difference in the world. We create environments where people are exposed to new thinking, a diversity of voices, and new opportunities. Driven by youth, our goal is to foster a sense of leadership and social entrepreneurship through the innovative use of technology, creating meaningful experiences for young people around the world. In partnership with the Global Youth Action Network, we offer recognition for youth action and support for youth voice.
Description: Help your child make decisions about spending allowance money wisely. Publication includes game instructions and questions to begin discussion.
The Youth Transition Funders Group
Description: The Youth Transition Funders Group is a network of grantmakers whose mission is to help all youth make a successful transition to adulthood by age 25.
Description: USAGov is the portal for all the Federal government web sites.
Description: YouthActionNet seeks to connect, inspire and nurture present and future young leaders. The goal is to provide a virtual space where young people can share lessons, stories, information and advice on how to lead effective change. It is a space where youth can get up-to-date information, resources and tools to strengthen their work.
Description: Youthhood.org is an online community for youth. Youth can read articles, do activities, and submit stories and artwork. Topics include school, careers, leadership, mentoring, and community involvement, belonging, friendships, civic responsibility, health, independence, and planning for the future.
– Evaluation –
Description: This brief identifies 43 programs that have somewhat to very sizable, statistically significant impacts on adolescent or young adult outcomes. The brief uses Child Trends' online database of experimentally evaluated social interventions for children and youth, Lifecourse Interventions to Nurture Kids Successfully (LINKS), to identify programs with manuals that have positive impacts on a range of outcomes, such as behavior problems, physical health, and education. The information on the program impacts, while somewhat technical, is useful for those interested in selecting or funding programs based on the magnitude of their impacts.
Mobilizing for Evidence-Based Character Education
Description: This evaluation guide is presented as a resource primarily for project directors who are federal grantees embarking on an evaluation of a character education intervention, although it contains useful information that can benefit other education administrators who also are providing these interventions. It offers strategies for working with external evaluators and key stakeholders in planning and implementing a scientifically sound evaluation.
Description: The purpose of the TLS Model is to provide a way to simplify coordination of life skill development with ages and stages tasks so programs will be developmentally appropriate and more effective in achieving identified outcomes.
In the Targeting Life Skills (TLS) Model categories of life skills are identified and divided on the basis of the familiar four H's from the 4-H Clover that represent Head, Heart, Hands, and Health.
– General Information –
Description: Cooking Up Fun is an integrated nutrition, youth development program designed to help youth aged 9 to 14 (grades 4 to 9) acquire independent food skills. The goals of Cooking Up Fun are 1) To increase food skills and 2) To promote positive youth development.
Creating a Handbook for Youth in Foster Care
Description: A handbook for youth in care is important because it empowers youth by giving them information. It provides a resource for youth to find answers to the questions they face in the uncertainty of foster care. The process of producing a handbook is also a valuable opportunity for youth involvement. In nearly all bases, a handbook that is written for youth, by youth, will get more respect and attention from the intended audience.
Description: General information and materials on self-efficacy.
Keep in Touch: Young People Offer Advice on Staying Connected and Living Independently (2.61MB)
Description: This brochure from the Family and Youth Services Bureau's National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth gives young people advice on staying connected and living independently once they are on their own. (Also available in Spanish)
Mantente en Contacto (Keep in Touch)
Description: This brochure from the Family and Youth Services Bureau's National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth gives young people advice on staying connected and living independently once they are on their own.
Meeting the Needs of Students with Interrupted Formal Education & Refugee Backgrounds
Description: Students with both limited English proficiency and interrupted formal education (SIFE) are increasing in today’s elementary and secondary schools. These students often come into the classroom as immigrant students who have arrived in the US as refugees; fleeing war, persecution and other situations that have had a negative impact on their educational experiences. This webinar will provide background information on Office of Refugee Resettlement programs and policies, along with an update on refugee populations coming into the US. Strategies and solutions in addressing the educational needs of students from refugee families will also be addressed, including innovative programming at the high school level for students who have gaps in their educational backgrounds.
OMK Connects Deployment Cycle Support Yellow Ribbon Programming to Youth
Author: Harries, Kia ; Amber Runke
Description: Helping young people cope with the deployment of a loved one is the focus of this 60-lesson curriculum, emphasizing life skills throughout the deployment cycle. Review the curriculum and companion volunteer training guide, learn how these lessons can be used in a variety of settings with a mixture of ages, and how to involve the family in the conversations after the lesson.
Description: This toolkit give practical steps on self-advocacy, being an advocate with a youth program, and advocating as a youth leader at the local, state, and national level.
Teenspace at the Internet Public Library
Description: This website provides links and information on topics of interest to teens.
Description: Everyone needs to be personally prepared to survive at least 96 hours without help. Here is what you need. Don’t forget the special needs of each family member. And remember: Kits are “living objects”. Rotate food, water, and other perishable items such as medications.
Youth Indicators, 2005: Trends in the Well-Being of American Youth
Description: Youth Indicators contains statistics that address important aspects of the lives of youth, including family, schooling, work, community, and health. The report focuses on American youth and young adults 14 to 24 years old, and presents trends in various social contexts that may relate to youth education and learning.
– Other Resources –
Author: Norquest, Jan
Description: This is a Powerpoint CYFAR 2009 presentation. Teens Out Loud is a 4-H group at Greyhills Academy High School located on the Navajo Nation in Tuba City, Arizona. The goals of the group are: 1) Youth will become involved with the community and develop culturally appropriate “youth voice”; and 2) Tuba City becomes a better place for teens.
– Professional Development –
10 Things Kids Can Do in Tough Times
Description: In tough times, managing individual household expenses can be a great concern. For some people, wading through pages of long words to find help can be overwhelming. In response, OSU Extension has developed several 1-page pdf files, each with 10 tips on simple ways to cut back and save money. This particular resource focuses on things that kids can do to help out during tough times.
These pages are designed to be printed and used to reach people who require materials written in clear, plain English or in Spanish.
May be applicable for Gulf Oil Spill response or response to other catastrophic events such as flood, hurricane, earth quake, drought, wild fire, etc.
Description: There are a variety of ways that parents, grandparents, and other interested persons can save for a child’s education. The College Savings Options chart in this fact sheet lists a variety of choices and summarizes basic information about each.
Description: It is important to comparative shop for the best deal for your family's education dollar. Here are some considerations to help you reduce the cost of your child's college education.
Family Economics & Financial Education
Description: Family Economics & Financial Education (FEFE) is a program of the Take Charge America Institute for Consumer Financial Education and Research at The University of Arizona. The FEFE project is based on the idea that a university-based financial education outreach program, built on cutting-edge research, can strengthen and extend the ability of schools and community organizations to raise the personal financial capabilities of young adults
Getting Through Tough Financial Times
Description: Whether you have lost your home or job or are concerned with the decreasing value of your assets, you must rethink your money management strategies to minimize the impact of the current financial situation. This website is designed to help you make good decisions during these tough financial times.
Handling Tough Times ~ Tips for Parents and Families
Description: Tips to help parents assess the impact of tough economic times on their children and respond appropriately considering the age and personality of the child. May be applicable for Gulf Oil Spill response or response to other catastrophic events such as flood, hurricane, earth quake, drought, wild fire, etc.
Managing in Tough Times - Downsized!
Description: A variety of resources, including worksheets and financial calculators, to assist persons who have experienced a job loss through downsizing. Topics include: Steps for Dealing with Reduced Income; Making Ends Meet; Spending Less; Volunteering and Networking - Tools for Uncertain Times; Health Insurance and Retirement Plans; Taking Care of You and Your Family; Strategies for Finding a Job.
Managing in Tough Times Economic Hardship Guide
Description: To successfully manage your finances and enjoy a comfortable life during tough economic times, it is important to be aware and in control of your assets, debts, potential savings, earnings, and expenditures. Organization is a crucial part of preventing and solving financial problems. When organization isn't enough, here are tips to help you reduce stress by saving money and achieving the balance you need for a happy healthy life. Topics include:
* Know Your Net Worth
* Create a Spending Plan
* Build an Emergency Fund
* What Are Your Resources?
* Debt Management in Tough Times
* Freeing up Money from Services
* Saving Money at the Gas Pump
* Stretch Your Dollars
* Doing Things for Le$$
* Keep Lines of Communication Open
* Working Teens as Contributors
* Adult Children Moving Home
May be applicable for Gulf Oil Spill response or response to other catastrophic events such as flood, hurricane, earth quake, drought, wild fire, etc.
National Center for Education Statistics
Description: This is your direct link to over 9,000 Colleges and Universities in the U.S. If you are thinking of a large university, a small liberal arts college, a specialized college, a community college, a career or technical college or trade school, you can find them here.
Description: Pet care costs become even more of an issue during a recession. Before adding a new pet to your family, assess what you can afford based on annual cost estimates for various types of pets.
Thriving In Challenging Times: The Road Ahead
Description: Designed as a road map to help you find your way through challenging economic times, this 28-page publication is based on information written for the Alabama Cooperative Extension System Web's "Thriving in Challenging Times" Weblog. It is packed with practical tips about shopping on a limited budget, managing and overcoming debt, keeping yourself and your family physically and emotionally healthy, and saving on energy costs. The emphasis is on the basics: caring for yourself, safeguarding your family, and facing up to the challenges many people encounter along the way to recovery. May be applicable for Gulf Oil Spill response or response to other catastrophic events such as flood, hurricane, earth quake, drought, wild fire, etc.
Top Ten Things KIDS CAN DO in Economic Tough Times
Description: Ten tips for kids to be actively involved in helping their family or community during economic tough times. May be applicable for Gulf Oil Spill response or response to other catastrophic events such as flood, hurricane, earth quake, drought, wild fire, etc.
Description: Affluenza is an epidemic of stress, overwork, shopping, and debt caused by dogged pursuit of the American dream. Its influence is spreading and can be seen affecting decisions youth make regarding their day-to-day activities. The materials found on this page will help teachers lead a lesson on afflueza.
– Programming Resource –
"Reading Makes Cents" - A Financial Literacy Pilot Program in Maryland
Author: Gordon, Kathy; Jinhee Kim; Lynn Little ; Shante' Stokes; Lacie Ashby
Description: The "Reading Makes Cents" program developed by Penn State University was piloted in 3 Maryland Counties in 3 different settings. In this pilot, it was discovered that through the lessons taught, youth learned about the history of money; they learned the difference between needs and wants; and others. The lessons may be simple, but seem to get the message out.
4-H Cooperative Curriculum System
Description: 4-H Cooperative Curriculum System is the nationwide curriculum development system of the Cooperative Extension Service. Its mission is to provide high quality experientially based curriculum products to 4-H and other non-formal youth development organizations. Over 150 curriculum products are currently available.
Description: Youth learn business types, products & pricing, marketing, partnerships, agreements & contracts. Youth go through the process of creating a business plan and starting a business. They do market surveys, budget forecasts, exit strategies, ethics & more.
Be the E - Entrepreneurship: Helper's Guide
Description: Includes extensive background on life skills, teaching using the Experiential Learning Model, background on entrepreneurship and answers to questions in the youth manual. Experiential activities are correlated to the national educational standards.
Bootstraps: A CYFAR funded Project-Work Program for Young Adults
Author: Davis, Rodney; Bill Evans; Amy Meier; Marilyn Smith
Description: Bootstraps has proven highly successful in helping disenfranchised youth from rural, limited-resource families transition to adulthood. Under the guidance of an adult job coach, youth 18 to 21 use real life experiences on the job to practice and reinforce program goals introduced in the classroom. Curriculum, implementation procedures evaluation and impact evidence are included. (A 2008 CYFAR Conference Presentation)
Description: Children’s Garden Consultants (CGC) is an innovative model for engaging youth to become experts in children’s garden design and educational programming through a meaningful learning process that gives voice and due recognition to their perspective. It is designed for youth ages 15 and older.
Author: Miller-Heyl, Jan
Description: The DARE to be You (DTBY) program builds on the strengths of youth and develops individual assets. DARE to be You builds skills in decision making/problem solving, assertiveness/communication/social skills, responsibility/role modeling, and esteem for self and others/empathy development.
Description: Guildelines and materials for developing programs for youth using the Life Skills Model.
Description: Discovering our Food System (DFS) is an interdisciplinary, community-based exploration of the people and processes that shape our food system. Rooted in the places we live, eat, work, learn, and play, DFS will help youth better understand what the food system means to them, how it affects their community and their health, and ways in which they can influence the food system.
Description: Don't Buy It: Get Media Smart is a media literacy Web site for young people that encourages users to think critically about media and become smart consumers. Activities on the site are designed to provide users with some of the skills and knowledge needed to question, analyze, interpret and evaluate media messages.
Description: This site is produced by the University of California Science, Technology and Environmental Literacy (STEL) Workgroup's Experiential Learning Project Group (ELPG) for anyone—from individuals who are exploring experiential learning (EL) for first time to those who have years of experience in the area.
Description: Financial Champions is an experiential curriculum for twelve to fifteen year olds composed of two youth guides, and helper's guide, and an interactive web game. It is sponsored by the InCharge Institute of America, Inc. in conjunction with Windermere Communications, Inc. and the 4-H Cooperative System; and Penn University. The three guides are: Money Fun-damentals, Money Moves, Money Helper's Guide.
Financial Champions 1: Money FUNdamentals
Description: The activities in this action-packed guide invite youth to develop a money personality profile and style, explain needs and wants, deal with money decisions, set financial goals and develop a money plan. Grades 7-9
Financial Champions 2: Money Moves
Description: Youth learn how to predict outcomes and analyze their finances. Youth will calculate interest, determine the cost of credit, manage a checking account, select financial services, make marketplace decisions & the 11 ways of handling money. Grades 9-12
Financial Champions: Helper's Guide
Description: Helpers will enjoy involving youth in the right fully-developed group activities that expand the concepts in the youth guides.
Description: The Casey Foundation and the National Endowment for Financial Education jointly published this series of guidebooks expressly for use by foster children and teens to educate them about personal finance and empower them to make sound decisions about reaching their future goals.
Garden based learning projects
Description: Cornell University describes a variety of garden-based learning projects.
Life Skill Development of Oklahoma 4-H Alumni
Author: Maass, Sarah; Nick Place; Gerald Cullen; Carolyn S. Wilken, Joy Jordan
Description: The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of long-term 4-H participation on the development of lifeskill competencies known to assist individuals with living a productive and rewarding life. This study surveyed Oklahoma 4-H alumni who had participated in the Oklahoma 4-H program at the highest levels (state and national) between the years 1969 and 1998.
LifeSmarts: the Ultimate Consumer Challenge
Description: LifeSmarts is a flexible classroom or group activity that teaches teens to be smart and responsible consumers and citizens. The content and competition questions focus on five key areas of consumer knowledge that teens need to know to function effectively in today's marketplace. These areas are personal finance, health and safety, environment, technology, and consumer rights and responsibilities.
Description: Money Talks is a financial management web site for teens. It is dedicated to providing teens with the information needed to make wise money decisions, including games, videos, and links. Both English and Spanish versions of the site are available.
Peace One Day U.S.A. Education Resource
Description: The free online Peace Education Resource contains 21 lesson plans with accompanying teaching materials. Topics covered include, ending-bullying, conflict resolution, sustainability, intercultural cooperation and global citizenship.
Policy Education and Civic Engagement (PEACE) Curriculum
Author: Rebori, Marlene (5 more by this author)
Description: A unique civic engagement curriculum rooted in community development that teaches public deliberation skills. PEACE is intended to help make the process of teaching citizenship, public deliberation and civic engagement more enjoyable and youth driven. PEACE is comprised of six lessons and designed as scaffolds, where each lesson is used to build into the next lesson.
Radishes to Riches: A Produce Marketing Project for Youth
Description: This workbook helps youth and adults plan what to grow and how to market their crops. It provides a hands-on experience of producing the crop and carrying out a marketing plan to sell that crop for a profit.
Safe Passage: How Philanthropy Is Working Together to Help All of America's Youth Connect by Age 25
Description: YTFG has identified useful principles and models to guide funders, policymakers, and others as they develop strategies to provide young people with the skills, support, and opportunities they will need as they move on to meaningful and productive adult lives. The vision behind the strategy of “Safe Passage†is to create a world where young people become “Connected by 25†to caring adults, institutions, and support systems.
Description: This booklet details the organizational steps needed to initiate a successful community gardening project with kids.
Author: Wagoner, Steve
Description: As agencies and youth-serving organizations experience a shortage of resources, it is more important than ever to effectively involve and utilize teens as resources. Learn the characteristics of teens and necessary skills of adults working with them. Teens as teachers is specifically addressed, as well as a variety of other effective teen roles in at-risk settings.
Author: UNITED NATIONS, Headquarters,
Description: Project is "to provide exceptional educational resources (both online and in print) to students growing up in a world undergoing increased globalization." Create a model UN; youth have access to country profiles, a well-written introduction to the history and work of the United Nations, some fun quizzes and the Urban Fact Game. Includes helpful curriculums (such as racial discrimination) and age- appropriate briefing papers. In English, Spanish, French, Russian, Chinese, Arabic.
Understanding Racial Identity Development
Author: Gonzalez, Eduardo
Description: This workshop from CYFAR 2009 focused on enhancing understanding of adolescent racial identity development. It explores a stage model of adolescent racial identity formation; identifies the ways in which our unexamined assumptions, stereotypes and bias impact adolescent racial identity development; identifies how the messages that adolescents receive from peers, adults, the media and society in general are internalized and affect their sense of self, and identifies strategies for supporting adolescents to honor, embrace, and value themselves.
Vegetable Fare: Displaying Vegetables at Their Best
Description: This guide covers proper harvest and storage with emphasis on exhibiting produce at fairs. It highlights both general principles and provides specifics on more than 35 crops.
What Works Clearinghouse: Character Education
Description: The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) review of this topic focuses on character education programs designed for use in elementary, middle, or high schools with attention to student outcomes related to positive character development, prosocial behavior, and academic performance.
Workforce Readiness Get in the Act!: Take 1 Helper's Guide
Description: Educators both in and out of the classroom will enjoy using this guide with the CD to incorporate workforce skills in their curricula. It’s an interactive experience, making it exciting for middle school youth.
Workforce Readiness Get in the Act!: Take 1 Youth Guide
Description: This innovative program is designed to help middle school youth explore what it takes to get their first paying job. This interactive experience combines both CD and activity guide formats. The activities are presented in the context of a movie set.
– Research –
Description: In this narrated presentation, Hans DeBruyn of the University of Rochester offers an overview of civic engagement and its connection to social capital in the U.S. (25 minutes)
Connected by 25: Improving the Life Chances of the Country's Most Vulnerable 14-24 Year Olds
Description: This paper addresses several issues relevant to developing a system of support and opportunity for those youth least likely to make a successful transition into early adulthood by age 25. The authors conclude that the vast majority of youth who do not make a successful transition fall within one or more of the following four groups of 14-17 year olds: 1) those who do not complete high school, 2) youth deeply involved in the juvenile justice systems, 3) young, unmarried mothers, and 4) adolescents who experience foster placement.
The Child Indicator: Fall 2010
Description: The Fall 2010 issue of The Child Indicator summarizes several reports which highlight critical indicators of child well-being at the national, state, and local levels.
The Demographics of Spirituality and Religiosity Among Youth: International and U.S. Patterns
Description: This research brief describes religiosity and spirituality among youth and young adults around the world.
The Network on Transitions to Adulthood
Description: The Network on the Transitions to Adulthood, supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, examines the changing nature of early adulthood (ages 18-34), and the policies, programs, and institutions that support young people as they move into adulthood.
Whatever: Turning on the Teen Brain
Author: Baird, Abigail (1 more by this author)
Description: This CYFAR research presentation explores adolescent brain research. "Perhaps the most important milestone of adolescence is the successful synthesis of thinking and feeling processes. This integration is of fundamental importance to decision-making, an area where adolescents are known to engage strategies that differ from adults. Data from our laboratory suggest that when confronted with a dangerous scenario, adult responses were driven by a rapid emotional response to those images; whereas adolescents were shown to be using slower, less effective areas of the brain that traditionally contribute to thinking. These findings are discussed in the context of peer interactions, emerging adult hood, and family systems."
“Making the Best Even Better: Searchable Database of 4-H Graduate Studies
Description: The AgNIC Youth Development website is a cooperative project between The Pennsylvania State University College of Agricultural Sciences and the Life Sciences Library. It includes over 1700 theses based on research involving 4-H.