Youth Leadership Development [1]

 Introduction:

The goal of the ASPIRA Youth Leadership Development Curriculum is to build resiliency skills, positive identity and self-esteem through a comprehensive positive youth development program. This tool seeks to reduce risky behaviors among middle and high school youth and to prevent them from engaging in risky behaviors in the future. The overall aim is that students will use ASPIRA's principles as a guide for their future actions and development. Participants will develop knowledge of self and others in order to prepare for effective leadership through the exposure to a series of activities that promote healthy self esteem, identity, cultural awareness, positive academic skills, and organizational skills, among others.

The Curriculum is arranged into eleven units. All units have modules followed by activities. Each module is intended to represent a workshop. Note that each unit contains a course description, followed by goals, and resources needed. To facilitate staff training or programs presentations we have prepared a Facilitators Manual [2] and the YLDP Power Point Presentation [3].

Getting Started

Documentation is very important for this project. The first step is to ensure participants and staff registration on the ASPIRA web site. After registering, staff should contact Hilda Crespo [4] at the National Office to upgrade their user status to "staff". An e-mail will be send to registered staff with additional instructions and information.

In order to demonstrate our successes we need to provide appropriate records. Each participant must complete a Student Assent Form and their parents must complete a Parent Consent Form. These are available in English and Spanish. All completed forms should be mailed to the ASPIRA National Office: Attention: Hilda Crespo. The following are the links for the forms required under the program.

• Intake Form [5]
• Intake Form (Spanish) [6]
• Parent Consent Form [7]
• Parent Consent form in Spanish [8]
• Student Assent Form [9]
• Student Assent Form in Spanish [10]
• Media Release Form [11]
• Media Release Form (Spanish) [12]

Program Evaluation [11]

Your feedback on the curriculum is valuable. This will allow us to modify the curriculum as needed. All completed forms should be mailed to the ASPIRA National Office, Attention: Hilda Crespo. Participants should complete the Student Evaluation Form and the facilitators should complete the Facilitator Evaluation Form. We have also provided you with the Student Sign-in Forms. All the forms are available in English and Spanish. Below are the links for the evaluation forms:

• Student Evaluation Form [13]
• Student Evaluation Form in Spanish [14]
• Facilitator Evaluation Form [15]
• Facilitator Evaluation Form in Spanish [16]
• Student Sign in Sheet [17]
• Student Sign in Sheet in Spanish [18]

Program Overall Objectives

• Participants will develop resiliency skills through their participation in the varied activities.
• Participants will demonstrate positive attitudinal change regarding school, their peers, and parents, and will have increased their self-esteem as measured through research studies.

Curriculum Structure:

• Unit I Overview of ASPIRA
• Unit II ASPIRA Clubs
• Unit III Building Personal Growth
• Unit IV Building Resiliency
• Unit V Leadership Development
• Unit VII Career Awareness
• Unit VIII Community Involvement
• Unit IX Building Cultural Awareness
• Unit X Public Policy Leadership Program
• Unit XI Financial Literacy and Personal Finance

Each of these documents are very large files. For facilitating the downloading of these materials we have divided each of the manuals by sections or chapters. Please remember that each of these components has a facilitators or implementation manual with participants handouts, make sure you download each one of them. These files are Acrobat Reader files.

[19] [20] [21] [22]