The Youth on Fire Cohort - Department of Children, Youth and Their ... [PDF]

The Youth on Fire Cohort “Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world.” ― Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed

INTRODUCTION Young people have always been at the forefront of social change. If it had not been for 16year-old Barbara Johns who organized a school walk out in protest of school segregation, gaining national attention an the interest of the NAACP, Brown vs. The Board of Education would have never happened. The key to a better future lies in our children and youth. So, as educators, we have a responsibility to build the capacity of our young people so that they can lead. Our future depends on it. The 2015-2016 Youth on Fire Cohort seeks to train 15 staff from community-based organizations directly working teens to institute stronger and more effective youth empowerment practices and design programs that hold substantive youth voice. The goal is to have programs rethink program activities and practices in order to increase capacity of staff and organizations to include youth in decision-making processes and to empower youth by giving them the concrete skills and theoretical framework for purposeful social engagement. COHORT DETAILS The Youth on Fire Cohort will convene once every month for 6 hours at DCYF between August 2015 and May 2016. The cohort meetings will be aligned to group-development principles over-laid with the academic year, to support participants to implement their learning each month directly with youth. Each meeting will utilize both best practices in youth empowerment as well as peer-coaching and reflective practices. Additionally, each cohort member will develop an individualized work plan for engaging youth leaders in completing a youth-led project in the Spring of 2015. Each participant will receive:    

Up to 3 hours of one on one professional coaching The Youth on Fire Curriculum Toolkit with 4 sets of curriculum A certificate of completion 60 hours of professional development

Applications Due on Friday, July 31, 2015 at 5pm. Please e-mail questions and completed applications to Monica Flores, DCYF Admin Coordinator, [email protected]

Cohort training dates:  September 1  September 22  October 6  November 3  December 1

 January 5  February 2  March 1  April 5  May 3  June 9 Antique Edutainment Founder, Candice Davis, M.A.Ed. Candice Antique Davis, M.A.Ed. is singer/songwriter, professional coach and capacity building specialist who blends all of these elements into an approach that she calls “edutainment” or the art of using music and dynamic facilitation to create engaging educational and professional development content and experiences. Davis has seventeen years of experience as an educator and professional artist. Davis has a BA in Sociology from UC Berkeley and a M.A.Ed. with an emphasis on Social Justice and Equity from San Francisco State University. Davis is also the lead singer of acclaimed beatboxing soul band Antique Naked Soul and the founder of the international cultural campaign “The Remember Project”. Go to antique-edutainment.com to learn more. Applicant Criteria       

Must work for a 501(c)3 non-profit agency based in San Francisco and work with directly youth from San Francisco Have minimum one year of experience working directly with youth Must have support from agency supervisor to participate Current job responsibilities must include program planning, development, and/or program delivery and service provision Must work directly with a group of young people Interest in increasing youth voice/leadership in programs Must be able to attend at least 7 of the 10 meetings

The Youth on Fire Cohort is FREE professional development funded by the San Francisco Department of Children, Youth, and Their Families. For more information about DCYF’s capacity building and training opportunities, visit www.dcyf.org.


Youth on Fire Cohort Application Name of Applicant: Name of Agency: Title: Agency Address: E-mail:

Work Phone: Cell Phone: Gender: Race/ethnicity: Date of Birth:

Application Questions Please limit answers to less than 300 words. 1. Please attach most current resume to application. 2. What is your vision for your professional career? How does the YFC support that vision? 3. Why are you interested in joining the Youth on Fire Cohort? What do you hope to gain from it? 4. Do you work with a group of young people consistently? What do you do with them? 5. What special skills or interests do you have that could contribute to the richness and diversity of the learning cohort? 6. What are your program/agency’s current methods of including youth voice/leadership in decision-making? How open is your agency to increasing youth voice/leadership in decisionmaking? 7. What have been the most effective practices you’ve experienced in empowering teens? 8. What has been the most challenging in allowing youth take leadership in your program? 9. We receive a large amount of applications for YFC and want to ensure that the most committed applicants get prioritized. Do you have any other obligations that would prevent you from being able to attend cohort meetings and implement the curriculum? If so, what are they? 10. Does your organization/supervisor support your participation in the cohort? How will he/she honor the commitment?
