• Meaningful engagement in own career development process
• Demonstrated skill in work readiness
• Awareness of options for future employment, careers, and/or professional development
• Completion of educational requirements and/or involvement in training that culminates in a specific vocation or opportunity for career advancement
• Established involvement in meaningful work that offers advancement, satisfaction, and self-sufficiency
• Positive attitude about one’s ability and future in working in a particular industry or the opportunities to grow into another

• Career exploration activities including career interest assessment, job shadowing, job/ career fairs, and workplace visits/ tours
• Internships
• Work experience including summer employment
• Information on entrepreneurship
• Networking activities
• Mock interviews
• Work readiness workshops
• Visits from representatives of specific industries to speak to youth participants about the employment opportunities and details of working within their industry
• Mock job search including web-based job searching, newspaper, “cold-calling,” resume writing, cover letter and thank you letter writing
• Visit to education and/or training programs
• Career goal setting and planning
• Job coaching or mentoring
• Learning activities using computers and other current workplace technology

• Basic aptitude in math and reading
• Rational problem solving
• Ability to think critically toward a positive outcome
• Logical reasoning based on personal knowledge
• Ability to determine one’s own skills and areas of academic weakness or need for further education and training
• Sense of creativity
• Appreciation and the foundation for lifelong learning, including a desire for further training and education, the knowledge of needed resources for said training, and willingness for further planning

• Initial and ongoing skills assessment, formal and informal
• Initial and ongoing career/ vocational assessment, formal and informal
• Identification of one’s learning styles, strengths, and challenges
• Creation of a personal development plan
• Contextualized learning activities such as service-learning projects in which youth apply academic skills to community needs
• Monitoring of and accountability for own grades and creation of a continuous improvement plan based on grades and goals
• Showcase of work that highlights a youth’s learning experience—an essay, painting, algebra exam, etc.
• Development of a formal learning plan that includes long and short term goals and action steps
• Group problem-solving activities
• Preparation classes for GED, ACT, SAT, etc.
• Peer tutoring activities that enhance the skills of the tutor and the student

• Understanding of growth and development as both an objective and a personal indicator of physical and emotional maturation
• Knowledge and practice of good nutrition and hygiene
• Developmentally appropriate exercise (will vary depending on a youth’s age, maturity, and range of physical abilities)
• Ability to identify situations of safety and uphold those standards in daily life
• Ability to independently assess situations and environments
• Capacity to identify and avoid risky conditions and activities at all costs
• Ability to learn from adverse situations and avoid them in the future
• Confidence and sense of self-worth in relation to their own physical and mental status

• Workshops on benefits and consequences of various health, hygiene, and human development issues, including physical, sexual, and emotional development
• Role playing adverse situations and how to resolve them
• Personal and peer counseling
• Training in conflict management and resolution concerning family, peer, and workplace relationships
• Community mapping to create a directory of resources related to physical and mental health
• Meal planning and preparation activities
• Social activities that offer opportunities to practice skills in communication, negotiation, and personal presentation
• Sports and recreational activities
• Training in life skills

• Quality relationships with adults and peers
• Interpersonal skills such as ability to build trust, handle conflict, value differences, listen actively, and communicate effectively
• Sense of belonging and membership, i.e., valuing and being valued by others, being a part of a group or greater whole
• Ability to empathize with others
• Sense of one’s own identity apart from and in relation to others
• Knowledge of and ability to seek out resources in the community
• Ability to network to develop personal and professional relationships

Youth Leadership program specific:

• Ability to communicate to get a point across
• Ability to influence others
• Ability to motivate others
• Ability to seek out role models who have been leaders
• Ability to be a role model for others

• Mentoring activities that connect youth to adult mentors
• Tutoring activities that engage youth as tutors or in being tutored
• Research activities identifying resources in the community to allow youth to practice conversation and investigation skills
• Letter writing to friends, family members, and pen pals
• Job and trade fairs to begin building a network of contacts in their career field of interest
• Role plays of interview and other workplace scenarios
• Positive peer and group activities that build camaraderie, teamwork, and belonging
• Cultural activities that promote understanding and tolerance

Youth Leadership program specific:

• Workshops in public speaking
• Research on historical or current leaders
• Contact with local leaders
• Strategic planning to change something in the community or within the youth program

• Ability to articulate their personal values
• Awareness of how their personal actions impact the larger communities
• Ability to engage in the community in a positive manner
• Respect and caring for oneself and others
• Sense of responsibility to self and others
• Integrity
• Awareness of cultural differences among peers and the larger community
• High expectations for self and community
• Sense of purpose in goals and activities
• Ability to follow the lead of others when appropriate

Youth Leadership program specific:

• Ability to motivate others
• Ability to share power and distribute tasks
• Ability to work with a team
• Ability to resolve conflicts
• Ability to create and communicate a vision
• Ability to manage change and value continuous improvement

• Personal plan development with goals, action steps, and deadlines
• Resource mapping activities in which youth take the lead in planning and carrying out a search of community resources for youth
• Voter registration and voting in local, state, and federal elections
• Participation in town hall meetings
• Community volunteerism such as organizing a park clean-up or building a playground
• Participation in a debate on a local social issue
• Training to be a peer mediator
• Participation in a letter-writing campaign
• Opportunities to meet with local and state officials and legislators
• Participation in a youth advisory committee of the city/school board/training center
• Learning activities or courses about leadership principles and styles
• Group activities that promote collaboration and team work
• Mentoring relationships with positive role models
• Opportunities to serve in leadership roles such as club officer, board member, team captain, coach

Youth Leadership program specific:

• Mediation/ conflict resolution training
• Training in team dynamics
• Training in project management