Please join the YDRC for a professional development experience that will positively impact your work with youth.  Breakfast and lunch are included in the ticket price ($40.00).

Location: Boys & Girls Club & Sandy Dauch Campus, 16500 Tireman Avenue, Detroit, MI 48228

8:30a.m.     Registration & Continental Breakfast

9:00a.m.     Morning Plenary

9:30a.m.     Morning Sessions

• Making Connections through Improvisation: Fun Ways to Engage Staff & Youth 

  Participants will engage in activities that build teamwork by using improv as a communication tool for overcoming roadblocks to communication. The activities are deeper than your typical icebreakers. As youth development ambassadors, administrators, and teachers; having a fun tool to aid in communication can be extremely handy and fun! Facilitator: Kelly Rossi, Program Manager-Y Arts; Margaret Edwartowski, Executive Director-Y Arts

• Youth Work Methods: Reframing Conflict 

  What role do you play in conflict situations with the youth in your program? Do you know how to turn a conflict situation into an opportunity for growth?  This interactive workshop introduces participants to the High/Scope step-by-step model for reframing conflict as well as general principles of conflict resolution. Facilitator: Mellannie Porch-Doneghy, MSW

• Humanizing Schooling in Detroit 

  Learn how People In Education is humanizing schooling in Detroit.  We will share lessons and experiences working in schools in Detroit.  Starting off with practices we use in our classrooms to practice connection, we will share our projects including media projects produced by young people.  Participants will leave with practices and resources for thinking about how to create learning spaces that honor the humanity of the students and the facilitators. Facilitator: Nathaniel Mullen

• Fostering SEL through a Positive and S-E-T Environment (MANAGMENT TRACK)  

  Join WINGS for Kids as you learn the S-E-T (Supportive, Engaging and Teaching) approach to creating a positive environment and fostering social and emotional learning.  This session is designed to empower youth workers and organizations with the knowledge and skills to strengthen their own social and emotional skills, as well as, to develop strategies to start implementing rituals and routines to enhance SEL for children. Facilitator: Nicole Williams, M.A.

11:35a.m.    Lunch & Afteroon Plenary

12:30a.m.    Afternoon Sessions

• Exposing Youth to Outdoor Adventures 

  This will be an interactive session with a leader of Detroit Outdoors.  Their goal is to connect the neighboring communities with the local natural environment and inspire youth to spend more time outdoors.  Engage in games and activities that will promote and inspire you to learn more about the natural resources and camping in their community!  Facilitator: Garrett Dempsey

• Youth Work Methods: Ask-Listen-Encourage 

  Do you communicate with youth in a way that makes them feel supported and heard?  This interactive workshop introduces various communication techniques that help you build more supportive, youth-centered relationships. Participants will learn how to ask more effective questions, to listen actively to youth and offer youth encouragement rather than praise. Facilitator: Alejandra Gomez, B.A.

• Engage, Educate, and Excite with STEAM 

  Engage in this thrilling hands-on experience through the eyes of STEAM.  The materials for these activities are not difficult find.  The activities are not complicated for implementation in your programs.  The activities cover all aspects of STEAM.  Leave this session with documents to plan for engaging and educating your participants in STEAM. Facilitator: Michael Mroz

• Safe Havens: Integrating Trauma-Informed Care (MANAGEMENT TRACK)

  Research suggests that nearly 60 percent of youth in the U.S. are exposed to a potentially traumatic event each year. Studies also tell us that one of the most significant factors in a young person’s resiliency is having consistent access to a supportive and caring adult. Trauma-informed practices are a way to engage young people, both with and without histories of trauma, by creating safe and supportive environments and practices with the goal of helping youth thrive in the face of adversity. We'll discuss tools and strategies to take back to your setting. Facilitator: Kirk Lowis, M.A., CTP-E

2:35p.m.     Closing Remarks