State of the Youth Report Overview

This web-based "living" reference tool is a comprehensive, strategic view of our rural youth environment in Marquette and Alger Counties. This document is available on-line to maximize use and distribution. The State of the Youth (SOY) report includes data covering youth demographic information, Kids Count data, results from the 1997, 2000, and 2002 Profiles of Student Life: Attitudes and Behaviors survey, and additional data gathered by Great Lakes Center for Youth Development.

The State of the Youth (SOY) report also contains special topic information in three major areas: youth feeling valued by the community, caring school climate, and cultural competence. There are also three reports on service learning, parent networks, and promising practices in positive youth development.

SOY Intended Use

Great Lakes Center for Youth Development (GLCYD) recognizes youth-serving organizations as our primary customer. Therefore, the information available in the State of the Youth report has been intentionally developed for professionals such as teachers, service providers, committee members, program providers, fitness instructors, etc. However, anyone and everyone who is interested in youth environments and how youth perceive their opportunities and risks can use the information contained in this report.

GLCYD hopes that by having access to key pieces of data about young people in one place on our website, youth service providers will be able to use this data gathered from youth to drive intentional strength-based changes within programs, write grants, engage in strategic partnerships, and attract resources.

Marquette and Alger Counties Area Profile

The State of the Youth report contains a brief area profile of Marquette and Alger Counties that describes the local environment. Often times, this type of general information is very helpful in grant writing and in the development of presentations.

Kids Count Data

This summary of Kids Count data provides information about child well-being in the State of Michigan and Marquette and Alger Counties. The Kids Count 2002 Data Book: State Profiles of Child Well-Being and Kids Count in Michigan 2002 Data Book: County Profiles of Child and Family Well-Being were used to generate this report. Electronic links are provided to both of these documents. Included in the summary are data regarding child well-being factors such as population statistics, median family income, economic condition, education, and neighborhoods.

Demographic Information

General demographic information such as population statistics, obesity rates, education, household information, labor, income and homeless or floating youth information is presented in this section.

40 Developmental Assets Framework

The 40 Developmental Assets, developed by the Search Institute, are often thought of as 40 "building blocks" needed by youth to maximize their developmental outcomes and to grow into healthy, competent, and caring adults. These 40 Developmental Assets are common sense, practical experiences, and qualities all young people should have access to. There are 20 external assets and 20 internal assets. The external assets refer to the positive developmental experiences young people gain through relationships and opportunities in their lives. The external assets are further divided into four separate asset categories: Support, Empowerment, Boundaries and Expectations, and Constructive Use of Time.

The internal assets are competencies, skills, and self-perceptions that young people develop over time. The internal assets are also divided into four asset categories: Commitment to Learning, Positive Values, Social Competencies, and Positive Identity.

The results of our surveys in Marquette and Alger Counties demonstrate that the more assets young people have in their lives, the more likely they are to engage in thriving behaviors such as success in school, valuing diversity, maintaining good health, and delaying gratification. Developmental assets can also be thought of as protective factors. Our survey results also show that the more assets young people have, the less likely they are to engage in risk-taking behaviors such as alcohol use, drug use, sexual activity, and violence.

Clearly, the 40 Developmental Assets give us insight on the health and well-being of our young people. Marquette and Alger Counties have much to celebrate as we reflect on progress that has been made over the years in creating better environments for youth. However, there is much work yet to be done as only 17% of our youth report having only 0-10 assets and just 8% of our youth report having 31-40 assets.

Profiles of Student Life: Attitudes and Behaviors Survey

The Search Institute Profiles of Student Life: Attitudes and Behaviors survey (PSL:AB), developed in 1989, is a 156-item survey that provides communities with the portrait of the developmental assets, deficits, risk behaviors, and thriving indicators of their 6th to 12th grade youth. The survey is intended to provide baseline aggregate data on which to create a platform for comprehensive asset-building strategies and positive new visions impacting youth and the community. This survey has been used by our community as in hundreds of other communities across the country to help increase our knowledge about young people. Great Lakes Center for Youth Development (GLCYD) and the public schools in Marquette and Alger Counties surveyed 8th, 10th, and 12th grade students in 1997, 2000, and 2002. Many tables and comparisons have been prepared by GLCYD for the SOY report. GLCYD provides additional reports on two special cuts of the data of low asset youth and for adolescent females.

The survey has become a catalyst for Marquette and Alger Counties participating in Search Institute's Healthy Communities*Healthy Youth initiative. This national effort seeks to motivate and equip individuals, organizations, and their leaders in joining together to nurture caring and responsible children and adolescents.

The framework has two major uses. First, it is designed to help mobilize and unite people and organizations to pursue long-term, community-wide efforts in positive youth development. Second, the developmental assets framework encourages a comprehensive research approach in which multiple elements of positive development are studied.

2002 Sidebar Survey

During the summer of 2002, Great Lakes Center for Youth Development (GLCYD) staff conducted interviews with over 40 community organizations and schools to discover from our constituents how data from the Profiles of Student Life: Attitudes and Behaviors (PSL:AB) survey was currently being used and whether there were information needs about the youth environment that were not met through the PSL:AB survey. Through these interviews, GLCYD discovered four major areas of interest: current employment status, Career Pathways, desire to stay/leave the area after school, and exposure to second-hand smoke. A companion survey to the PSL:AB survey called the Sidebar Survey was developed and administered in 2002 in all of the area schools.

Focus Group Reports

Community Values Youth - Alger County 2002

The 2000 Profiles of Student Life: Attitudes and Behaviors survey (PSL:AB) survey revealed low numbers of youth possess the Empowerment assets: Community Values Youth (18%), Youth as Resources (24%), and Service to Others (50%). As a result, Great Lakes Center for Youth Development conducted 11 focus groups with 101 youth from Alger County in the summer and fall of 2002 and prepared this report.

Caring School Climate and Cultural Competence

As Great Lakes Center for Youth Development (GLCYD) reviewed the results of the 2002 PSL:AB survey, two new areas of inquiry were developed. To learn more about youth attitudes about and experiences with Caring School Climate (27%) and Cultural Competence (35%), GLCYD facilitated 11 focus group discussions in August 2003, involving 77 youth. A report of the findings was prepared.

Service-Learning

Community-based service-learning experiences can have a positive impact on the healthy development of young people. Great Lakes Center for Youth Development's (GLCYD) interest in service-learning from an applied research perspective is the study of the impact of service-learning experiences on the developmental trajectory of "at-risk" youth. GLCYD has designed a service-learning curriculum that is implemented in five-week cycles. Each week a different aspect of service-learning is explored including identifying a service need, researching the service opportunity, implementing the service, and providing structured reflection and opportunities. This report provides a literature-based review of service-learning and its impact on "at-risk" youth. It also describes GLCYD's service-learning curriculum and the results of an implementation of the project.

Parent Networks

In 2002, the Family Resource Institute in the NICE Community School District asked Great Lakes Center for Youth Development (GLCYD) for assistance in starting a Parent Network, a program model that promotes parent involvement and has been successful in other school districts. GLCYD assisted with the project and designed a Parent Network study to learn more about how parents influence teens about substance use. This report provides the results of this study.

Promising Practices in Positive Youth Development

Great Lakes Center for Youth Development has identified several promising practices in the positive youth development field to share with our youth development community. The examples given are programs from local and national organizations that offer youth development programs and programs designed to positively impact the nonprofit system. The programs highlighted are:

Marquette-Alger HCHY Coalition

The Marquette-Alger Healthy Communities*Healthy Youth (HCHY) Coalition is only one of hundreds across the nation and, just recently, internationally with HCHY coalitions existing in Canada, Australia, and South Africa. The HCHY Coalition works to mobilize the community around the healthy development of its young people. Using the 40 Developmental Asset model, mobilization occurs through community advocacy, organization, education, information, and technical assistance.

Action Ideas for Positive Youth Development

Everyone in a community can build assets in young people. This section of the State of the Youth report offers simple action ideas for students, adults, parents, and others who impact young people's lives. We also include articles that provide action ideas that support positive development of youth. Great Lakes Center for Youth Development provides this information in the hopes of spurring immediate and long-term community-wide action.

Call to Action

In many ways, we have become a professionalized society. Many communities have become heavily dependent on systems, services, and professionals to meet the needs of its citizens. As individuals, we have become less engaged with each other and with the community. It has become painfully clear during this most recent economic down-turn that we must find ways to solve this over-professionalization of society. One way to do that is to call upon individuals to reconnect with each other and the community and do what they can to improve the environment for youth and families.

Great Lakes Center for Youth Development presents a "Call to Action" to all individuals in the community. This Call to Action is not intended to burden individuals and groups with an overwhelming task, rather, to ask each individual to consider what they can do to improve the lives of children and families. Perhaps, it is as simple as getting to know the names of the children in the neighborhood, families setting aside time to be together, organizations making a concerted effort to involve youth in leadership opportunities, or youth helping an elderly neighbor with shoveling. We can all make a difference in the lives of our youth and can help to change the community to be a better place for all its citizens.

Copyright©2003 by the Great Lakes Center for Youth Development except where noted
Contact Judy Watson-Olson or Karen Thompson at (906)228-8919 with questions/comments
Some information on this site is produced by other sources, see bibliography for source
This page was last updated on Thursday, November 20th, 2008