Making Change

Author(s):  
Tina P. Kruse

Making Change: Youth Social Entrepreneurship as an Approach to Positive Youth and Community Development connects multiple fields of practices and scholarship to explore a youth-focused model for promoting social justice. Social entrepreneurship creates opportunities, especially for youth in marginalized communities where the opportunity gap, suppressed social mobility, and economic disparity are most profound. In such settings, engaging youth as leaders of social change offers the potentially exponential benefits of personal empowerment, community improvement, and economic transformation. Written for audiences in both academia and in the field of youth work, Making Change advances the fields of positive youth development and community enhancement by linking youth social entrepreneurship as a means to socially just impact.

Making Change ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 24-30
Author(s):  
Tina P. Kruse

This chapter summarizes significant examples of anecdotal yet powerful findings that have been documented within this field. It reviews existing empirical studies in related areas of study that can lead to an initial understanding of youth social entrepreneurship as a model for positive youth development. Specifically, empirical studies in the area of youth entrepreneurial intent, tendencies, and environments are described. Another model of youth and community development that may offer a recognizable indication to scholars is Youth Participatory Action Research. Examples of this related research are also included in this chapter. Furthermore, research is included in the areas of youth activism and youth leadership because they are suspected to be significantly related to youth social entrepreneurship.


2021 ◽  
pp. 0044118X2110078
Author(s):  
Anna Ortega-Williams ◽  
Troy Harden

Positive youth development (PYD), while embraced in many sectors of youth work, has faced criticism for its primary emphasis on positive personal change and adaptation, without a strong emphasis on social justice and culture, especially relevant for African Americans. Additional models of PYD addressing these conceptual gaps have emerged, however few explicitly address anti-Black racism and historical trauma impacting African American youth development. In this paper, expanded models of PYD, specifically Empowerment-Based Positive Youth Development (EBPYD) and Critical Positive Youth Development (CPYD) will be examined for their strengths and limitations in responding to (1) anti-Black racism and (2) historical trauma among African American youth. Key strategies of these models, such as promoting prosocial behavior and civic engagement will be reconceptualized and expanded to account for developmental needs imposed by historical oppression and contemporary racism against African American youth. Implications for PYD programing will be discussed.


Making Change ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 37-48
Author(s):  
Tina P. Kruse

This chapter reviews the universal elements of positive youth development; that is, explicating the basic foundations of healthy development that are important for all youth, regardless of context or background. Developmental psychology serves as a primary source for the perspectives presented here. Among the key components of this discussion are the principles of the field, a review of relational development theory, and an overview of adolescent brain development. Specific frameworks are included, such as the Five C’s of youth development, social-emotional learning (SEL), and youth interests (sparks). While all of these components are influenced by the broader contexts and environments of the youth, the set of ideas included in this chapter applies to a somewhat decontextualized form of youth development theory as applied to the promise of youth social entrepreneurship.


Making Change ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 10-17
Author(s):  
Tina P. Kruse

This chapter explores the “asset-based” frameworks in both positive youth development and community. This chapter also orients the reader to the link between youth social entrepreneurship’s grounding in the central theme of positive psychology: human flourishing. Instead of focusing on the incremental steps toward getting any job at all, the emphasis is on youth capacity for creating a positive career trajectory, supported by exposure to a breadth of opportunity instead of a narrow pipeline. To accomplish meaningful and authentic positivity, the cultural reality of each young person and each community must be included in the experience of development. Therefore, a review of culturally relevant pedagogies and the need for valuing cultural funds of knowledge is included. All together, the asset-focused, culturally relevant practices can foster youth leadership with social entrepreneurship that paves a road toward thriving.


2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deena M. Zubulake

This research began with questions about youth work professionalism and discovering the why and how behind youth work practice. This article explores relationship-centered values, principles of positive youth development, and ethics of professional youth work as the foundation for informing and guiding youth work professional practice.


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