A male teenage youth and his parents.

Competency Area 4: Relationship to Family and Community

This competency area focuses on the knowledge, skills, and abilities that youth service professionals need to successfully develop relationships with family members and other significant persons in young people’s lives as well as to connect youth with supports and opportunities in the community.

Click on individual competencies listed below for learning objectives, professional development activities, and resources for that specific competency or scroll down to read them all. Note: The letter “D” indicates a competency specific to youth with disabilities.

4.1 Ability to engage and build relationships with family members or other significant persons

4.1 Ability to engage and build relationships with family members or other significant persons

Learning Objectives

  • 4.1.1 Facilitate and support collaborative relationships with family members or other significant persons in a youth’s life

Selected Activities

  • Develop a needs assessment for family members or other significant persons
  • List and describe suggestions that could help meet the needs of family members or other significant persons

Demonstration of Learning – Show What You Know!

  • Based on your organizational demographics and needs develop a support plan for family members or other significant persons

Resources Developed by NCWD/Youth and Partners

Other Resources

4.2 Ability to connect youth to community institutions, resources, and supportive adults including mentors and role models

4.2 Ability to connect youth to community institutions, resources, and supportive adults including mentors and role models

Learning Objectives

  • 4.2.1 Provide for and ensure youth connections with community institutions, resources, and supportive adult mentors and role models

Selected Activities

  • List and describe current community resources available to youth that you work with
  • Describe means to acquire adult mentors, and describe the role these mentors will serve (i.e., reading, tutoring, special programs) and what criteria you require
  • Research and identify mentoring strategies that other, similar organizations have found to be successful

Demonstration of Learning – Show What You Know!

  • Create an instructional guide for adult mentors

Resources Developed by NCWD/Youth and Partners

Other Resources

4.3 Ability to engage youth in community service and leadership activities

4.3 Ability to engage youth in community service and leadership activities

Learning Objectives

  • 4.3.1 Facilitate and support collaborative engagement of youth in community service and leadership activities

Selected Activities

Demonstration of Learning – Show What You Know!

  • Prepare a matrix that describes program possibilities for your organization which would address ideas to help engage youth in community service and leadership activities
  • Successful completion of Activity Two – Microsoft Word, engaging a group of youth in a service learning project

Resources Developed by NCWD/Youth and Partners

Other Resources

4.4 Ability to involve families, guardians, and advocates (when appropriate), including connections to disability-specific resources and groups

4.4 Ability to involve families, guardians, and advocates (when appropriate), including connections to disability-specific resources and groups

Learning Objectives

  • 4.4.1 Facilitate and support collaborative engagement of youth in community service and leadership activities with appropriate families, guardians, and advocates, including connections to disability-specific resources and groups

Selected Activities

  • Explore NCWD/Youth’s publications for families
  • Explore several collaborative family/community engagement strategies and programs, and then list the advantages/disadvantages of these programs as they apply to your organizational needs

Demonstration of Learning – Show What You Know!

  • Prepare a matrix that describes program possibilities for your organization which would address ideas to help facilitate collaborative engagement of families, guardians, and advocates in community service/ leadership activities including connections to disability-specific resources and groups

Resources Developed by NCWD/Youth and Partners

Other Resources

4.5.D Knowledge of family advocacy, support and community resources, including disability-specific resources and organizations

4.5.D Knowledge of family advocacy, support and community resources, including disability-specific resources and organizations

Learning Objectives

  • 4.5.D.1 List and describe specific examples of family advocacy, support and community resources, including disability-specific resources and organizations

Selected Activities

Demonstration of Learning – Show What You Know!

  • Create a WebQuest for family advocacy

Resources Developed by NCWD/Youth and Partners

Other Resources

4.6.D Ability to match youth with disabilities with appropriate mentors and role models with and without disabilities

4.6.D Ability to match youth with disabilities with appropriate mentors and role models with and without disabilities

Learning Objectives

  • 4.6.D.1 List and describe strategies that help enable you to match youth with disabilities with appropriate mentors and role models with and without disabilities

Selected Activities

  • List and describe current community mentors available to youth with disabilities that you serve

Demonstration of Learning – Show What You Know!

  • Prepare a matrix to acquire adult mentors (with/without disabilities), describing the role these mentors will serve (i.e., reading, tutoring, special programs), what criteria you require and how these mentors will be matched to youth with disabilities

Resources Developed by NCWD/Youth and Partners

Other Resources

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