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HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem #45 - Discussion ItemTO: Howard Gary City Manager Frlo�s: Maurice Mayor / CITY OF MIAMI. FLORIDA iiVTIER•OFF"IC►: MEMORANDUM , I - May 5, 1982 FILE: ,U 5'J1JECr: May llth City Commission Meeting JOIJ AGENDA ITEM R':FEt1,7NCES: ENCLCSUR_S: Please schedule Les Brown, Center for the Quest for Truth, for a personal appearance at the Commission meeting of Dlay 11, 1982. He will be pre- senting a summary of the Miami Youth Leadership Institute proposal, along with a ten minute slide presentation. THE MIAMI YOUTH LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE A PROPOSAL PRESENTED BY THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT May 1982 CONTENTS SUMMARY i 1. EQUIPPING YOUNG PEOPLE FOR THE FUTURE 1 The Training Component 2 Recruitment 4 2. TECHNICAL APPROACH TO YOUTH LEADERSHIP TRAINING 6 Principles of Developmental Training 7 Conditions Which Facilitate Development 12 3. TRAINING PROGRAM ACTIVITIES 20 Training Staff 21 Program Outline 22 4. PROPOSED FOLLOW-UP 28 5. ESTABLISHING A YOUTH LEADERSHIIP INSTITUTE PARENTS AUXILIARY 31 6. EVALUATION 46 7. FUNDING REQUEST 49 Appendix: Washing Post report discussing the proposed training methods 51 THE MIAMI YOUTH LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE: SUMMARY The concept underlying the Youth Leadership Institute Program is to train and provide leadership opportunities for 1,000 - 1,500 of the city's young residents. The Institute, through its activities, can impact immediately on the many aspects of community life in which its members live and work. Through their experience of undertaking leadership roles, and through relevant training, Institute members' capabilities will be developed during their formative years to a point where they can form a leadership for their generation. The Youth Leadership Institute, with the support of an associated Parent's Auxiliary, can become the source of a substantive interrelated effort, through its members interfacing with other organizations, and with many sections of the neighbor- hood, county, and city communities, with an integrity demonstrated through expressions of their developing selfhood, in particular through their ability to communicate, plan and collaborate across ethnic, gender and age barriers. The foundation of the Institute and the identification of the National Institute for Personal Development, a Miami -based .non-profit community corporation, to conduct Youth Leadership Training and to act as a follow-up support team are therefore events of immediate and future significance. -i- In working to establish and develop the Institute in summer 1982, National Institute for Personal Development would give high priority to developing a close working relationship with offi- cials and members of the Mayor's staff responsible for youth - affairs. We would identify and provide training and technical assistance to equip a member or members of the staff to accept administrative responsibility for the Institute as an ongoing entity, assisted by interns selected from the participants after the proposed training period. A similarly high priority would be given to establishing liaison and effective working relationships with community groups and with relevant city and county agencies. This proposal presents a statement of the training approach to be employed, identifies the activities which will initiate the Institute program and presents a budget to support a request for funding the program. The cost of conducting the year's activity is projected as $465,091. The National Institute for Personal Development pro- jects an in -kind contribution of $175,000; this proposal there- fore requests funding to a total of $295,091, which would include the cost of all training manuals and materials, motivational tapes, and salaries. 1. EQUIPPING YOUNG PEOPLE FOR THE FUTURE 1. EQUIPPING YOUNG PEOPLE FOR THE.I:'UTURE National Institute for Personal Development and the National Center for Youth Development work to equip young people with the skills and experience necessary to cooperate and plan for their future --and ours. Minority young people in cities and towns all over the country need all the problem -solving ability they can get --and we need them to have it. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics tells the story on unemployment. For example: o In 1960 about 13 percent of Whites between 16 and 19 years old were unemployed --and 24 percent of Blacks. o In 1979 about 13.9 percent of Whites, 19.1 percent of Hispanics, and 36.5 percent of Blacks in the 16-19 age group were unemployed. o By 1982 the nation was shocked to learn that more than 51% of inner-city minority teenagers were unemployed. The assertiveness and desire to act characteristic of youth is a national asset. Helping young people acquire and develop leadership skills has become essential for the future. In their training participants develop the skills necessary to identify problems and plan solutions; to communicate and collaborate across ethnic, age, systemic, and economic barriers; and to further personal and community objectives. Youth and its leadership potential is a valuable resource. We must develop it. The Training Component During Summer 1982 a series of residential Youth Leadership training programs are proposed, each of two -weeks duration and each involving 300 participants. 2 Participants in each training session will be divided into small groups of about ten students and one facilitator. These groups will be the student's family during training weeks. Ideally, the groups will include students from each part of the Miami area and be evenly divided between boys and girls. In implementing the program the contractor is responsible to the Mayor and his designated staffs and accepts administrative responsibility for the overall program. The support of the Mayors office is seen as necessary, to secure, for example, the use of Florida Memorial College or other suitable dorms and cafeteria as sleeping accommodation and food service, and for the provision of year-round follow-up facilities. The National Institute for Personal Development would be responsible for all training, for dormitory supervision, for the citizenship education component of the program, and for the development of an understanding of the various institutions, government and private sectors. The National Institute for Personal Development will utilize the National Center for Youth Development methods and design in conducting a leadership training experience to develop the selfknowledge, self -regard, understanding of parliamentary procedure, and the communication and collaborative problem -solving, resource identification, and planning capabilities necessary for a leadership group. 3 Recruitment The recruitment process would be intended to ensure socio- economic, ethnic, sex, and geographical balance. Applicants referred by schools, churches and other community organizations, and those responding on their own initiative to media public service announcements, will be interviewed, using a prescribed format to provide the data necessary to approach the desired balance, to ensure completion of application forms, and to secure parental approval. Each training session will begin on Sunday afternoon with an orientation segment conducted for the youth and their parents. Following orientation parents will withdraw to another area of the facility for a question and answer period, and an introduc- tion to the function of. the Parents Auxiliary, which they will be invited to join. Counselors, well known to the participants through their participation in the training prograrn as facilitators, will be responsible for behavior in the dorms; lights -out will be 11:00 p.m. 4 2. TECHNICAL APPROACH TO YOUTH LEADERSHIP TRAINING 5 2. TECHNICAL APPROACH TO YOUTH LEADERSHIP TRAINING Human development, effective learning, is not best achieved by young, or adult, participants in a conventional counseling or classroom situation, in which the learner hears an ide&, principle, or other body of information articulated and is evaluated, or valued, according to the accuracy with which he or she verbalizes back the information received. Human development involves changes in the way the learner behaves. It is active not passive; it requires that the learner place him or herself at cause rather than at effect in the behaviors addressed. A human development program can therefore be initially evaluated by the learners themselves, and finally evaluated only by observation of the performance of participants after their involvement in the learning experience is completed. Human development programs conducted by the proposd contractor's staff have been addressed to executives, managers, youth, blue collar workers, structurally unemployed persons, public housing residents, CETA program participants, and others. In every case the program objective is to stimulate and nurture growth and changed behavior, expressed in appropriate increased effectiveness in operational and personal performance. A Washington Post report of National Center for Youth Development involvement in the D.C. Mayor's Youth Leadership Institute is presented as an appendix to this proposal. The programs focus on problem -solving; they employ a practical, tested, format for identifying symptoms of problems,, analyzing problems and developing solutions which all, 2 participants can "own." In a follow-up phase, program staff provide ongoing assistance to ensure that changes, initiated and expressed in actual behavior during the program itself, are •maintained in an ongoing process of problem identificaiton and solution in the real world. A workshop format is employed, in which a training population is divided into "balanced" groups, of 10-12 persons. Through a group dynamic facilitated by experienced training staff, participants discover and rediscover their own aspirations and other attributes, in the course of a collective, structured effort to solve the real -world problems of the training population's members. The following pages present, in generalized terms the principles underlying the program design and the conditions, established by that design, which stimulate, reinforce, and activate the development of program participants. Principles of Developmental Training Principle 1 Development is a process which occurs inside and is activated by the participant -learner. The process of development is primarily controlled by the participant and not by the trainer. Changes in perception and behavior are products of human understanding and perceiving rather than of any forces exerted upon the individual. Develop- ment is not only a function of what a trainer does to, or says to, or provides for, a participant. It flourishes in a situation 0 7 in which training is seen as a facilitating process that assists people to explore and discover the personal meaning of problems or situations for them. No one directly teaches anyone anything of significance. If training is defined as a process of directly communicating an experience or a fragment of knowledge, then little learning occurs and the learning that does take place is usually inconse- quential. People learn what they want to hear; development cannot be imposed. When we create an atmosphere in which people are free to explore ideas in dialogue and through interaction with other people, we facilitate development, which doesn't take place without the personal involvement of the participant. Unless what is being taught has personal meaning for the indivi- dual, he or she will shut it out from his or her field of percep- tion. People forget most of the content "taught" to them and retain only content which they use, or content which is relevant to them personally. Principle 2 Developmental learning is the discovery of the personal meaning and relevance of ideas. People more readily internalize and implement concepts and ideas which are relevant to their needs and problems. Develop- mental learning is a process which requires the exploration of ideas in relation to self and community, so that people can determine that their needs are, what goals they would like to formulate, what issues they would like to discuss, and what content they would like to learn. Within programmatic boundaries, what is relevant and meaningful is decided by the participant and must be discovered by the participant. Principle 3 Developmental learning (behavioral change) is a consequence of experience. People become responsible when they have really assumed responsibility; they become independent when they have exper- ienced independent behavior; they become able when they have experienced succeess; they begin to feel important when they are important to somebody; they feel liked when somebody likes them. People do not change their behavior merely because someone tells them to do so, or tells them how to change. For developmental learning to take place giving information is not enough; that is, people become responsible and independent not from having other people tell them that they should be responsible and independent but from having experienced responsibility and independence. Principle 9 Developmental learning is a cooperative and collaborative process. Cooperation Fosters development --"two heads are better than one." People enjoy functioning independently, but they also enjoy functioning interdependently. The interactive process appears to stimulate people's curiosity, potential, and creativity. Cooperative approaches are enabling. Through such approaches people learn to define goals, to plan, to interact, 11 and to try group arrangements in problem -solving. Paradoxically, as people invest themselves in collaborative group approaches, they develop a firmer sense of their own identification. They begin to realize that they count, that they have something to give and to learn. Problems which are identified and ftlineated through cooperative interacton challenge and stretch people to produce creative solutions and to become more creative indivi- duals. Principle 5 Development is an evolutionary process. Behavioral change requires time and patience. It is not a revolutionary process. When quick changes in behavior are demanded, programs resort to highly structured procedures through which they attempt to impose learning. Whether such learning is lasting and meaningful to the learner is doubtful. Implicit in all the principles and conditions for development is an evolutionary model of learning. Learning 1 situations characterized by free and open communication, confron- tation, acceptance, respect, the right to make mistakes, self revelation, cooperation and collaboration, ambiguity, shared evaluation, active and personal involvement, freedom from threat, and trust in the self are evolutionary in nature. Principle 6 Development is sometimes a painful process. Behavioral change often calls for giving up the old and comfortable ways of believing, thinking, and valuing. It in not easy to discard familiar ways of doing things and incorporate new In behavior. It is often downright uncomfortable to share one's self openly, to put one's ideas under the microscope of a group and to genuinely confront other people. If growth is to occur, pain is often necessary. However, the pain of breaking away from the old and the comfortable is usually followed by appreciation and pleasure in the discovery of developing self. Principle 7 One of the richest resources for developmental learning is the learner himself. In a period when much emphasis is placed upon instructional media and speakers as resources for learning, programs tend to overlook the richest resource of all --the learner himself. Each individual has an accumulation of experiences, ideas, feelings, and attitudes which constitute a rich vein of material for problem -solving and learning. All too often this vein'is barely tapped. Situations which enable people to become open to themselves, to draw upon their personal collection of data, and to share their data in cooperative interaction with others, maximize development. tual. Principle 8 The proces:3 of development is emotional as well as intellec- Learning is aftected by the total state of the individual. Feeling as well as thinking begins, and when feelings and thoughts are in harmony, development is maximized. To create the optimal conditions in a group for development to occur, people must come before purpose. Regardless of the purpose of a group, it cannot be effectively accomplished when other things get in the way. If the purpose of the group is to design and carry out some task, it will not be optimally achieved if people in the group are fighting and working against each other. If the purpose of the group is to develop realistic career development objectives in its members, with reason and honesty, then it'will not be achieved if people are afraid to communicate openly. Barriers to communication exist in people, and before we can directly approach program objectives we need to work with the people problems that exist in the training group. Principle 9 The processes of problem -solving and development are unique and individual. Each person has a unique style of learning and solving problems. Some personal styles of learning and problem -solving are highly effective, other styles less effective, and still others ineffective. A program design must assist participants to define and make explicit to themselves the approaches they ordinarily use, become more aware of how they learn and solve problems, and be exposed to alternative models, so they can refine and modify their personal sytles to make them more effective. Conditions Which Facilitate Development Condition 1 Development is facilitated in an atmosphere which encourages people to be active. The process thrives when there is less trainer domination 12 and talk, and more faith that people can find alternatives and solutions satisfying to themselves. Listening to people and allowing them to use the trainer and the group as a resource and a sounding board facilitates the active exploration of ideas and possible solutions to problems. People are not passive and reactive receptacles into which values and ways of thinking can be poured. People are active and creative beings who need the opportunity to determine goals, issues to be discussed, and the means of evaluating themselves. They develop when they feel they are a part of what is going on, when they are personally involved. Development is not poured into people; development takes place within people and is expressed in their actions. Condition 2 Development is facilitated in an atmosphere which promotes and facilitates the individual's discovery of the personal -- meaning cif: itleas. t3 This means that the trainer, rather than directing or manipulating peoples helps them to discover the personal meaning of ideas and events for them. Fie or she creates a situation in which people are freely able to express their needs rather tahn have their needs dictated to them. Learning becomes an activity in which the needs of the individual ad the group are considered in deciding what issues will be explored, and what the subject matter will be. No matter how genuinely permissive a learning activity may be, there exist implicit goals in the activity itself; neither -i the trainer or the program is without a goal. Developmental learning occurs when the goals of the program accommodate, facilitate, and encourage the individual's discovery of personal goals and personal meanings in experience. The art of program design requires the development of goals which provide sufficient room for participants to explore and internalize behavior satisfying and growth -producing to themselves. Condition 3 Development is facilitated in an atmosphere which emphasizes the uniquely personal and subjective nature of the process. In such a situation, each individual knows his or her ideas, her or his feelings, and his or her perspectives have value and significance. People need to develop an awareness that all that is to be learned is not outside or external to themselves. They develop such an awareness when they feel their contributions and their characteristics as people are genuinely valued and acted Upon. Condition 4 Development is facilitated in an atmosphere in which differ- ence is good and desirable. Situations which emphasize the "one right answer," the "magical solution," or the "one good way" to act, to think, or to behave, narrow and limit development. If people are to look at themselves, at others, and at ideas openly and reasonably, then they must have the opportunity to express their opinions, no matter huw different they may be. This calls for an atmosphere 1 .1 in which different ideas can be accepted (but not necessarily agreed with). Differences in ideas must be accepted if differences in people are to be accepted. Condition 5 Development is facilitated in an atmosphere which consis- tently recognizes people's right to make mistakes. Where mistakes are not permitted, the freedom and the willingness of people to make choices are severely limited. Development is facilitated when error is accepted as a natural part of the process. The development process requires the challenge of new and different experiences, the trying of the unknown, and therefore, necessarily must involve making mistakes. In order for people to develop, they need the opportunity to explore new situations and ideas without being penalized or punished for mistakes which are integral to the activity of learning. The trainer who feels, and acts on, a need to be always ri(jht creates a limiting and threatening condition to development. Condition 6 Development requires an atmosphere which tolerates ambi- guity. In a rigid and defensive atmosphere, people feel they cannot take the time to look at many solutions, they feel uncomfortable without answers, and they feel there is more concern for "right" answers than for good answers. The open and fearless exploration of solutions calls for time to examine alternatives and proceed without feeling pressure for immediate and forthcoming decisions. 15 t. -- Condition 7 Development is facilitated in at P `{= evaluation is a cooperative process c self -evaluation. If development is a personal pri opportunity to formulate the criteria Criteria established by the trainer't vant to persons in a group. Behavior often measured by the degree to whic► others have tried to spoon-feed them can play the game of "giving the tra E Y �? 9 9 viable and meaningful evaluation occi examine themselves, and the roles the Self -evaluation and peer evaluation i much they have grown; for example thi recordings of their behavior, people process of development. Such record concrete evidence of progress and a the group. New insights evolve as p really are. For development to occu needs to see himself group accuratel is facilitated through self and grou Condition 8 Development is facilitated in a openness of self rather than conceal Problem -solving and learning re attitudes, ideas, questions, and cor light and examined. To the degree 1 16 feeling, or an attitude related to ti and not openly expressed, the proces: discovery are inhibited. Participan! try something and fail if necessary, embarrassed, or diminished. Openness phere free from psychological threat selves fully and openly in a collaboi process of development when they kno say or express, psychological punishi ensue. Condition 9 Development is facilitated in at cipants are encouraged to trust in t! external.-;ources. They become less dependent upon up the self, and when they feel that resource for others. It is importan+ they have something to bring to the Nothat the program demands the acquisi from an external agent for u-3e somet develop when they begin to see thems ideas and alternatives to problems. when people begin n t i p E o draw ideas from rather than relying on the trainer. Condition 10 Development is facilitated in a feel they are respected. 17 In a group in which high value is placed upon the individuality of the members and upon the relationships that exist within the group, people learn that someone cares for them. A genuine expression of care on the part of the trainer, and a warm emotional climate generate an atmosphere of safety in which participants can explore ideas and genuinely encounter others without any threat. Confrontations and differences of opinion become forces in in constructive a group which people have the experience of being respected as persons. Condition 11 Development is facilitated in an atmosphere in which people feel they are accepted. People free to they feel that isn't are change when change being imposed upon them. The paradox is that the more we try to change> people, the more resistant they become to change. A person must br, before he or she can become. Accepting a person means that we allow the person to hold his values and to he himself. When he does not have to defend himself or his valuer, then ho is free to take a look at himself and his values. People need to know they have an option, to orchange or not to change. They develop this knowledge when they experience that they are accepted for who they are. When people ofor their values are attacked they will defend themselves. People who are busy defending themselves are not free to learn. Condition 12 Development is facilitated in an atmosphere which permits confrontation. 18 .,. With free and open communication, with a nonthreatening psychological climate, the unique self of each person can be expressed. In such a situation persons will confront persons, ideas will challenge ideas. Confrontations facilitate development. They provide oppor- tunities for people to have their ideas and themselves viewed and tested from the framework of the group. No one learns in isola- tion from other people. Behavior changes and ideas are refined and modified on the basis of the feedback each gets from other people. Confrontation is a proving ground which enables ideas to be synthesized, new ideas to emerge, and people to develop. al 3. TRAINING PROGRAM ACTIVITIES 20 gam. 3. TRAINING PROGRAM ACTIVITIES The training design is based on the approach and materials designed by the National Institute for Personal Development and the National Center for Youth Development for a wide variety of human resource programs. It would comprise the personal growth and development, parliamentary procedure, educational, vocational and career counseling elements of the Institute basic training program. Training Staff The :staff involved will be appointed on the basis of three lead trainers and three co -trainers, together with one facili- tator for each team of. participants. Facilitators will be vacationing undergraduates. They will be responsible for interacting with participants both during training and in residence. A program manager will'be appointed, with responsibility, ' shared with an assistant, for keeping track of people, facili- ties, and equipment, and ensuring materials supply and distribu- tion. Office stff will provide clerical, recording and reporting support functions. The activity proposed would be provided for a total of up to 1500 participants in a :aeries of three-week programs. The program design will emphasize individual and group participant i i activity. It is designed to facilitate development of interper- sonal communication and team building skills on the basis of self and self -and -other understanding. It would encourage integration of each individual's experience, problems, and achievements as elements of a group process. 21 Conducted during the first six weeks of Institute membership, the program will equip participants with the' self -regard and self-knowledge, the interpersonal communication, awareness, and realistically defined career objectives necessary to maximize their effectiveness in the subsequent activities which establish the Institute as an ongoing entity. Program Outline Each human being has the capacity to grow in many dimen- sions. The Youth Leadership Development Program stimulates such growth and provides a range of experiences that emphasize the positive interaction of the various dimensions., The overall aim is to help participants develop a confident recognition of their individual attributes and the these potential value of attributes to themselves and others. Experience in the program initiates an ongoing process of self-discovery and self -realization. Each individual discovers and rediscovers his or her "assets" --the personal and interpersonal attributes, skills, talents, aptitudes, and positive behavior which result from biological inheritance and life experience. Each begins to plan and prepare for the employment of those assets. While recognizing that the development of a human being toward maximum potential has as many facets as there are aspects of human experience the experience, program focuses on these eight dimen- sions of life and self: 22 i' Fes; �4 % f_3'7 " Physical Life Mental Life Family Life Social Life Spiritual Life Emotional Life Financial Life Career Life During the training these eight dimensions are stressed both sequentially and in combination. The mode is interactive; parti- cipants learn through their individual and collective responses to the training experience. Segments of the program are intro- duced in fifteen minute lecturettes on such subjects as active and passive learning, physical life development, spiritual life development, etc. The program initially utilizes transactional analysis concepts to provide a language and an introduction to the process of examining and characterizing relationships, because experience has shown the validity of the parent -adult -child and critical and nurturing parent models to be quickly recognized as a means of understandinq and salving the problems involved in relationships. In an exercise called Life -Line they become* aware that the course of each person's life is not a linear process up or down, but, an "a curve, is series of plotted paper asa peaks and valleys which can be projected into the future. During the first week individuals, formed into teams, are or! required to perform exercises which demonstrate the issues which effect cooperation and team problem -solving. The Broken Squares or, for exercise, example, in which groups of five participants are 23 Provided with a set of irregularly shaped pieces of card from . which, without talking or signaling, they must form five squares µ.,_•SF... of equal size, sets a premium on awareness, nonverbal communication and cooperaion within the group. Maslow's theory, which holds that all human behavior is directed toward the satisfaction of a hierarchy of needs, from the lowest, fundamental survival needs, through a need for security, for participation and belonging, for recognition and finally for self -actualization, the maximum development of which each individual is capable, is introduced. An explanation is provided that as lower levels are satisfied each person strives for the next highest level, and that until basic needs are satis- fied, higher needs are inaccessible; participants are then asked to determine where they, as individuals, are in the process of attaining self -actualization. Tuft and Ingham's Johari Window model is used to demonstrate that the greater the readiness to both share and to receive from others, the greater the oppor- tunity to grow. In Stereotyping, a large group exercise, word associations are elicited from the teams and a flip chart record is made of responses to a series of key words. A discussion is then conducted on similarities and differences of group responses to Black, White, and Hispanic; Male and Female; Boss and Employee. Groups then respond to the word "lemon" and, after all responses are listed, each individual is provided with a lemon and told not to mark it in any way but to study it carefully for three _ 24 minutes. All lemons are then collected and placed on the floor: participants seek to find their own lemon, and a majority invar- iably succeed in doing so. In large group discussion the demonstrated uniqueness of each lemon is contrasted with the stereotypical definitions of human beings previously assembled. A team exercise, Lost On The Moon, is used to demonstrate that group products are usually better than individual products. Each participant is provided with a list of fifteen items --a box Of matches, tank a of oxygen, etc., and is asked to rank them in order of utility for a person "lost on the moon." After each has finished, teams are required to discuss the individual answer of their members and prepare a team consensus ranking of each item's usefulness. NASA's ranking of the order of utility of the items is then provided, and individuals and teams score their responses for compatibility with it. Individual and team scares are compared and the latter, if all members have participated, E , p pa ed, are invariably superior. When an individual's score is higher than the team s, communication and collaboration has demonstratably orbroken down. All exercises, of which the foregoing are examples, are assessed by each form participant, using a called What I've Learned, and team assessments are made of the collective efforts. At the mid -point of the program, two exercises are used to provide participants with an opportunity of evaluating themselves and learning the team's evaluation of their level of collaborative effort. In the first, FaXpa , each participant records on a piece of paper the value, on a scale of 0-50, of 25 " ., ,Z. what she or he got out of the previous training and of what he or she has contributed to the team process. Any disparity, or a low score in either dimension, is a signal of nonparticipation and, in a large group discussion, emphasis is placed on the fact that what you get, from training and in life, is a function of what you give. 7n the second exercise, which immediately follows, each participant is given two styrofoam cups and told to label one "A" and the other "i". They are then required, without talking, to give the "A" cup to the team member who has helped the team most, and the "1" cup to the member who has helped the donor most. In a team task, the participants share their reasons for awarding the cups as they did, and a large group discussion focuses on the difficulties and feelings involved in giving and receiving feedback. Following a lecturette on responsibility, commitment, and truth, the emphasis of training is, directed towards self- awareness anti personal growth through individual and team activities. In exercises, role-plays, and discussions, the participants utilize Who Am I?, a 20-page section of the Guide, OTto examine their past and present and project their future. They examine roles, commitments, characteristics, interpersonal orattitudes, likes and dislikes, successes, failures, feelings, dreams, and wishes; they identify the characteristics and quali- orties they want to retain as assets and those which are counter- productive to their comfort and their develpoment. For each life or dimension participants prepare a visual statement of their goals, orusing pictures, photographs, and symbols. They identify their {F•:.•.= short and long-range, tangible and intangible goals and where yat4.r - `° they stand in relation to them. The obstacles and roadblocks which impede their y list what steps p progress are identified, the they will take to overcome them, give themselves target dates for completing those steps and list what their gains will be in each case. Taken together, these plans in each of eight dimensions comprise the individual's Personal Development Plan. Following a lecturette that plan is formulated and prioritized, in detail, using a final ten -page section of the Guide. 1 A high point in the program is a mock -election which models voter -registration and the process through which real -world council candidates are selected and adopt a platform, how they campaign, and how ballots are cast. Each 80-hour training session thereforeelects a 'council' from among it's members. y The program develops each participant's capability to respond in planned, positive ways to actual opportunities. Program elements designed to develop self-knowledge and self -regard, planning capability, and understanding of the world of work provide the groundwork for elements concerning problem -solving, career planning, and leadership development. Each student will be provided with the following materials, to be retained for ongoing use after their employment in the program: o TA Games and the TA Primer - -A two volume elementary transactional ana ysis in roduction, used to facilitate r initial self and self -and -other discovery* o A Guide to Youth Leadershi2 Development --A 200-page loose--I^ea`E vo ume which provides armormmat and exercises for the program. R 27 .zt M.i 4. PROPOSED FOLLOW-UP � s •rye. 4 4. PROPOSED FOLLOW-UP In addition to conducting the training described and providing administrative services and technical assistance to the Mayor's staff, The National Institute for Personal Development Will undertake the following activities to consolidate and establish the Institute. These activities will constitute an in -kind contribution. Nil Parents Auxiliary Establish a Parents Auxiliary to provide on going r fund-raising and logistical support. This initiative is discussed at length in the following section. Residential Workshops Conduct weekend workshops (if possible on a residential basis) for Institute members after completion of their basic training. Graduate Seminars Conduct four-hour seminars in weekend and evening periods, addressing such specific personal and community development issues as: o Making Family Relationships Work o Involving a Community in Action o Political Involvement W, o The Law and You o Health and Your Community o Problems of Intercultural Relations W! o Personal Financial Planning o Identifying Community Financial Resources or W 29 r r r f Career Internship"Proram Approach the public sector and the business and professional community of the city and county to secure summer internship opportunities for graduates. Conduct problem -solving seminars, attended by interns and their sponsors working in specific professional and business situations. Family Workshops Conduct two weekend live-in workshops involving graduates and families. their m Institute Scholarship and "Apprenticeship Program Build a data hank of international, national, and local scholarship and apprenticeship opportunities, to aid graduates in implementing their career objectives. The National Institute for Personal Development looks forward to continuing to act as an administrative and supportive resource it, the follow-up activities described. 30 ,Y J�1�,rZ✓ ,." t 5. ESTABLISHING A YOUTH LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE PARENTS AUXILIARY 5. PARENT INVOLVEMENT The involvement of the parents of Institute members is an important aspect of Institute activity. Parents accompany the members to the opening of each training period and are oriented to the Institute's purposes and to the training methodology. Experience in conducting a similar program in the District of Columbia presents very numerous expressions of parental support and appreciation for youth development opportunities of the kind the proposed institute would provide. As a result, a Parent Auxiliary group can relatively easily be organized to conduct fund raising activities and provide support for year-round Youth Leadership Institute efforts. The objective would be to establish, a Parent's Auxiliary with a chapter in each area of Miami, involving substantial numbers. It is proposed to inaugurate the Auxiliary through the conduct of Parent Leadership Training sessions conducted during evening hours and/or on weekends. The training approach and materials would be based on the contractors' Organizational Development approaches. 32 Proposed Program Content The program design will emphasize individual and group participant activity: It would be designed to facilitate development of interpersonal communication, team building and planning skills, on the basis of self and self -and -other ' encourage understanding: It would integration of each 9 9 individual's supportive efforts as a parent, and the problems and achievements involved, as elements of a group process. The objective of the program is to equip participants with the self regard and self-knowledge, the interpersonal ri communication, family problem -solving, awareness, and realistically defined organizational and leadership skills IFnecessary to maximize their contribution to the overall Institute experience. Parents Auxiliary organizational Development The program staff uses organizational development techniques, supported by team -building methods, in a collaborative intervention process. The process helps to solve problems that are rooted in feelings of impotence, in apathy, unexamined presuppositions, failures of communication, group and interpersonal conflict, and "blaming." - ...`a Organizational Development (OD) is a set of techniques for planned intervention to improve interpersonal competence and establish team effectiveness. The objective is to change the beliefs and attitudes of people. The method is based on understanding that only those people who have learned to trust, help, and collaborate can fully address themselves to family and community problems, and fully devote their creativity and attention to carrying out an organizational mission. The experience of participating in OD working sessions is positive. Change begins to take place during the process itself, as real -world solutions to real -world problems are collaboratively identified. Outcomes of the process are ongoing because the group arrives at solutions, the imple- mentation of which can begin immediately. In summary, OD techniques reverse conventional approaches to establishing organizational affectiveness, approaches which narrowly address structure and technical akills and which, alone, are of little or no effect in directing the focus and establishing the commitment of the OD directly addresses people who make up the organization. organizational purpose and the processes of human interaction. it's goal is to develop teamswhich function effectively because they function integratively--because the attitudes and behavior of tl.eir members sustain communication and cooperation and minimize conflict. or 34 Operational Effectiveness Through Problem -Solving The objective of the Youth Leadership Institute and therefore of it's Parent's Auxiliary, is the development of a new generation of leaders, able to address community problems. These problems arise not from one but from many causes, rooted in the heterogeneous, multi -ethnic, competitive nature of American society. The National - Institute for Personal Development and the National Center for Youth Development have developed Community Leadership Development training as a catalyst to end conflict, stagnation in and paralysis communities. Complimentary Techniques Parents Auxiliary Organizational Development training will be based on a synthesis of techniques developed through the behavioral sciences, in particular on those derived from personality theory. The program focuses on solving the problems of experience rather than on text books, lectures, or formal em)irical methods. These techniques are not L 9 mechanically applied. National Institute for Personal Development collaborative intervention introduces problem -solving activities dynamically in an environment which supports both spontaneity and a focus on problems. Outcomes -solving ability at reinforce, and create, problem 4 r successive levels. Considered separately, the techniques synthesized are: Leadership Team nuilding, which brings together people involved in an institutional or situational structure to define objectives and the roles and activities necessary to achieve them. 35 y. e� A, tin= , • Tntejrqraup and interethnic social skills trainin , which brings together individuals representative of the divided elements of a city's population to identify problems jointly --including problems engendered by divisive presuppositions and value judgments --and reach commonly determined viable solutions. Objectives and Methods The first essential is that a "safe" space and time is basis, to to become created on a live-in enable participants involved in problem -solving. At the outset, case study problems focus on situations known to the participants and addressing their needs, making possible their successful involvement. Taken together, the objectives of the program comprise a definition of what we term "dynamic training." Twenty activities contribute to the programmatic goals. We first list, then describe these activities: Develop self -understanding. Develop interpersonal skills. Develop problem -solving skills. Share experience. Grow as a person. Learn to do one's part. Practice group dynamics. Understand power and leadership. 36 Assess organizational needs. Assess individual needs. Assess family needs. Build teams. Develop understanding of operational issues. Facilitate dynamic convergence of the ward leaderships. Initiate trainer training. Train in interorganizational dynamics. Examine decision -making processes. Identify and use resources. Evaluate the program. Continue to follow-through. Process outcomes omes o r Develop self -understanding: Self -understanding is the necessary basis for learning how to deal with a role. That understanding is achieved and shared in the weekend workshop, while other learning is taking place. The group dynamic itself is the instrument of OTdeveloping in each participant an objective and productive level of self -understanding and responsibility. Develop interpersonal skills: The abilities needed to deal effectively with people are paramount in developing an organization. When these skills are lacking, efforts are made to obscure the weaknes by burying problems under a paper storm of directives, 37 letters, and memos. But people problems don't go away. The methods used in the program to develop interpersonal skills become deeply imbedded and are applicable to a wide variety of contexts. Development of these skills among participants acts as a stimulus for those with whom they come in contact. Developproblem-solvin skills: In training,participants learn the use of a simple P P P format for identifying, analyzing, and solving problems; they practice this technique in the specific problem areas identified. The problem -solving sequence follows: Step 1. Identify experience that points to possible problems Step 2. Identify the problems. Step 3. Suggest possible solutions. Step 4. Single out the best and most probable solution. Step 5. List the benefits and advantages of the best solution. Be specific. Step b. Put the best solution to work. Share experiences: An important assumption underlies National Institute for Personal Development program design technique. It is that those undergoing training have more information in their collective experience than a trainer could impart. A prime reason f.or'the failure of training efforts in the past can be traced to the contrary assumption that the "trainee" is "taught"; that 38 what he or she already believes and feels is largely irrelevant to the training. National Institute for Personal Development programs stress the value of the individual and collective experiences brought into the training by participants. This experience is about self, about community needs, about family life, about city government, and about young people. Our design taps this experience and orients its expression towards productive interpretation and sharing, among all participants, of convergent experience, information, and attitudes. Grow as a person: The experience of people joining together to solve problems results in strengthened self-confidence and the development of solutions to personal problems. The evidence indicates that psycho -social growth takes place for many participants as a kind of human development bonus, linked iodise iubly to the more basic purposes of establishing a supportive organization for the YLI. Learn to do one's part: Participants build on their better insight into themselves by working to grasp firmly their particular roles. The program provides practice in assessing and improving the way that each participant plays a part in YLI support activity. Participants achieve a more objective understanding of how important each individual is in the chain of activities which produce or resolve problems. 39 Practice group dynamics: National Institute for Personal Development programs develop and depend upon individual understanding of the ways that groups act out feelings, purposes, interests, and conflicts. There are group dynamics unique to a leadership ,► group, just as there are specific dynamics among teenagers, or groups of female household heads. Facilitated conscious experience of the dynamics of the training group develops understanding and skills transferable to the external world. Understand power and leadership rGroups are made up of individuals, governed by group } dynamics, but guided by leaders. Some leaderhsip is controlling or authoritarian, some is flabby with indecision. The issues of power and leadership in groups are central to the resolution of problems. Learning about how to accept leadership, how to use it, and how to avoid its is learning to the abuse a vital experience central program. Wo don't take sides or teach theory. Instead we examine those problem: which are identified b the E Y orparticipants as involving power and leadership questions. Participants assess themselves and each other, concerning orleadership behaviours and achievements displayed in the program. The program identifies the leadership already orexisting among the parents and builds on its strengths, VT through convergency and pooling of capabilities, while avoiding the use of fear and threats. 40 yam• r£; . �`�':; ... Assess Organizational needs: National Institute for Personal Development facilitators make their own assessments of the support needs of the YLi, but keep their assessments open, and keep them to themselves until the program is near its follow-up stages. They focus on eliciting an assessment of problems and solutions from the participants, who have years of collective local experience. Understanding the needs of an organization is instrumental in policy and'decision-making and in all community -based functions. National Institute for Personal Development programs are designed to build that understanding among participants. The needs of the YLI will therefore be a primary focus. p Y What are the financial realities of the YLI? What are the political and social realties of the overall community, and how do they impact on the YLI? What does the YLI need in order to deal with its problems? These and similar penetrating questions arise and are addressed in the program. Assess individual needs: When pteople come together to form a team to address organizational problems those problems are not foremost in their mind:; and feelings. Each individual's needs and problems are, for them, foremost; unless these are dealt with effective) each will filter the problems of the YLI Y. through his or tier own problems. It is for this reason that the first segment of training deals with the individual, to clear the air of emotional barriers. Assessment of the 41 ri� fe' 4Ty' needs of individuals is a high priority and the resolution of some of these needs is central in the overall dynamics of the program. Participants use their self -assessments and the assessments of others to perceive themselves better and more clearly and to join the group in a more active and productive manner. Assess Family Needs Identifying needs and helping in the development offamily relationships is an objective of the YLT. Determining what problems arise, how effectively they can be addressed, and uncovering new methods of developing the family important factors in YLI activity. The as a unit are understanding and reciprocated support of parents will significantly assist Institute member's effort to perform these f. unc: t ions. Build teams: The being has dramatic experience of part -.i a group a effect on participants. To the extent that groups work to solve problems, the become teams sharing the work and P , Y . 9 developing a solidarity of purpose. Building teams enriches personal learning, provides a sense of organizational development, and makes clear that a group, properly organized, can multiply the operational effectiveness of each member. Develop understanding of operational issues: The sharing of experiential data leads toward better understanding, among all participants, of common and 42 specific difficulties. It provides a basis for prioritizing support activities and for ensuring that the needs of all sections of the city's population are addressed through the collaborative use of identified resources. Facilitate dynamic Joining: "Joining" is a vital process in which people begin to recognize ties and accept their commonality, their necessary to one another. It is the opponent of cliques and divisions among people who must coexist in some form of proximity or association. In the course of the training, convergency and joining become a standard method for making progress in solving problems. Initiate trainer training: need not remain The Y[,I and tile Parents Auxiliary n e dependent on the National Institute for Personal Development for continued dynamic training and the development of relationships. The program staff will identify potentially effective trainers from a►nong participants and provide facilitate for special training to equip them to programs the Y U an(i the Auxiliary in the future. The development of this internal capability provides a continuing tool for the Institute. Train in interorganizational dynamics The program will equip participants to understand and deal with the dynamics which govern the actions of separate organizations. This is a skill needed to cope with conflicts that can break down communications among groups, whether associated with a single neighborhood or with the Institute as a whole. 43 f Examine decision -making processes: Participants practice making decisions in groups where the achievement of consensus is required. In the training session, the pitfalls of rigid "I say --you do" decision -making are actually experinced in role play sessions. Good decisions grow out of effective processes For dealing with the interest and feelings that individuals and groups express and experience. Identify and use resources: Organizational Development training assists in the participants to locate hidden but available resources decisionmaking and implementation process. Since the major goal of the training is to heighten the degree of cooperation and coordination, the facilitator's task is not to point out either problems or solutions but rather to help participants identify real -world problems and accessible solutions on a mutual basis, through group interaction. stages of. this process roles and If the initialay I responsibilities are clarified. The role of each member of the team is identified, and the relevance of each responsibility to that of others and to the overall Institute objectives are explored. Participants learn, and gain experience in using, creative problem -solving techniques. As an essential result of these processes, they identify their own preconceptions and prejudices, particularly as these impede effective cooperation and collaboration. 44 The key outcome of this phase is the develo pment opment of a working plan based on shared definition and understanding of YLI goals and objectives, and from the mutual redefinition of the roles and responsibilities each team member is cap- able of assuming in implementing this working plan. Professional facilitation ensures this outcome; it ensures also that the activities serve to initiate and implement a planned development of strengthened working relationships and improved communication within the parent groups and the establishment of functioning agreements between wards. These relationships and agreements combine to create other resources --and to put all resources to work effective- ly. Rf,.sources are embodied in people no less than in faci- lities or finances. Resource people in the community will link up with Institute members and their parents as a result of collaborative approaches. Evaluate the Program: The National Institute for Personal Development and the National Cener for Yc_)uth Development are mindful of their responsibility to meet objectives and evaluate progress in relation to them. We will employ a participant self -eval- uation process, discussed in the next section, which feeds back into the design and delivery of the program in the course t of its conduct. Come to Follow -throe h The program will help develop the Parents Auxiliary as an effective team. We expect to provide extensive follow-up technical assistance, based upon the needs and expressed wishes of the Mayor, his assigned staff, and participants involved in the Institute and the Auxiliary. In particular we offer to conduct two 46-hour weekend follow up sessions to bring together all members of the Auxiliary to review experience, plan and accept responsi- bility for new supportive initiatives. 6. EVACUATION 47 6. EVALUATION If, as is suggested, the Institute is established on a year- round basis, the evaluation of the YLI program would be a continuous process throughout the year. The evaluation process would then have two aspects. The first is a self -and -training program evaluation, prepared by each participant on the last day of the training. Any deviation in the program's performance would be immediately ' detected through these normative evaluations, reviewed, and necessary corrective action would be taken to improve performance. The second evaluation activity to be undertaken would examine the immediate and long-term effects of the program strategy on the clients, in terms of the eight dimensions of personal and career development. This would be accomplished by obtaining feedback from a sample of clients at various times - after their participation in the program& e time perio(Is for the summative evaluation phases would The i t be: immediately following participation in training, then 30 days, 90 days, and 120 days after completion. The results would be used to determine the immediate and long-term effects on the participant's behavior in school, in Institute activities, in the community, and in personal problem -solving. This information would be used to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the program design and the Institute's development. 48 99 I A M 1 ■ 7. FUNDING REQUEST Salaries &.Wages 1 Program Manager 1 Assistant Program Manager 3 Lead Trainers 3 Co -Trainers 1 Clerk -Typist 1 Records Clerk 50 Facilitators Fringes @ 26.08 Equipment --Lease/Rental-Purchase 50 60" Round Tables 10 72" Oblong Tables 500 Folding Chairs 50 Easels 1 Copier 3 Typewriters 3 Telephones A/V Equipment Materials & Supplies Guides @ $49.95 Participant Supplies @ $25.00 Desk Top Supplies Copy Paper T/A Books @ $3.50 Training Tapes Program Development Travel, Per Diem 5 Lodging L.D. Travel Local Travel Per Diem Lodging In -Kind Services Internship Program Parents Auxiliary Follow -Up Total Requested Total Program Cost 4667 4000 10000 9000 2333 2000 75000 27906 900 90 1800 300 1500 330 1500 6000 74925 37500 2500 470 5250 3000 3000 4000 2000 5040 10080 35000 65000 75000 134906 12420 126695 21120 95091 175000 465091 APPENDIX: Reprint of August 6, 1981 Washington Post report of The D.C. Mayor's Youth Leadership Program r,1 /!irFAR ..Ma � _ to "Ghat wbo they are, to get to --w- e.. ... -.' l�uN know each other, to work and live west. elected elected mayor by the first together and to learn how to take 200 participants and Harold advantage of their leadership skills "Wookie" Williams, a 16-year-old so they can take control of their des. student at Randall High School and a resident of Northeast, was elected tines'" mayor by the second group. Tanya Of the many partmPants inter- Smith, 16, also from Northeast wd a viewed, none enen - the pmgram- dance student at Duke Ellington The monthlong program is divid- Schad of the Arta, was elerwl City 'ad into two, twa-week "It' and Councilmember At -Large. the 400 youths are split into two On the last day of each semester, groups of 200. The parWpanta work the institute trainers measure their at simumor job sites throughout the n' Wwa oy true Institute- "By the middle of the second week, he was looked up to as the leader of the boys' dorm. After the session ended, he was more settled, but he was anx- iota to do something outstandmg." "Yep, thst's right." said McCrae, with a wide smile. "If it wasn't for this institute. I'd still be a wild street. niggah. This program made me think it made me feel confident that I could do something great for the world. Our slogan stays in the back of my mind: 'Yes. I can. Yes, I wilt I nm the greatest. I am ! am. ... We Ares