Learning Opportunities

No matter our job titles — teacher, case worker, mentor, program staff, youth counselor — we all share a commitment to the young people we serve. To make our work more effective, DC offers a great array of trainings and technical assistance programs that improve the level of youth engagement in all of our interactions.

DC BEST — Youth Worker Training

DC BEST is a local system of training, education, and professional development that supports Washington, DC’s youth-serving sector. DC BEST is implemented locally by the Trust with national technical assistance from the AED National Training Institute for Community Youth Work (NTI).

DC BEST improves the quality of youth programs by ensuring that youth workers—the adults who work with young people in DC’s school-based enrichment programs, community-based organizations, faith-based programs, and public agencies—have the training, education, and professional support necessary to ensure their best practices in working with youth. (BEST stands for Building Exemplary Systems for Training Youth Workers.) Offerings include:

• Advancing Youth Development: A 30-hour, seven-session course for front-line youth workers from DC youth-serving organizations. The course introduces concepts and principles of youth development.
• Supervising Youth Development Practice: A 15-hour, four-session course for youth program supervisors. The course introduces concepts and principles of youth development and best practices in the supervision of youth workers and youth programs.
• Annual Conferences: An annual conference for youth workers, executive directors, and representatives from government agencies and funders to promote and support quality programs for young people in Washington, DC.

Click here for the calendar of 30-hour sessions for this year.

Capacity Building Institute — The Trust offers a series of workshops and trainings to increase the quality of OST programs through organizational, program, and staff development. Organizations will receive technical assistance to improve how they operate their organizations, to develop rich, dynamic programs, and to increase the knowledge of OST programs. A full list of trainings can be found on the Trust’s website.

The District of Columbia — Offers periodic workshops to strengthen the capacity of local nonprofit organizations, community groups, and faith-based institutions on such topics as grant-writing.

The National Youth Development Information Center offers on-line materials about training youth development workers.