Youth Program Management and Evaluation

Program Overview

The Great Plains IDEA youth development program has its roots incPositive Youth Development Rather than focusing solely on corrective measures, a Positive Youth Development approach equips young people in the second decade of life with the skills and opportunities necessary for a successful transition into adulthood. This Michigan State University youth program management program approach promotes positive outcomes for all youth by recognizing their strengths, fostering positive relationships, and providing youth with opportunities to learn, lead, connect, and serve.

Program Outcomes

In this online graduate certificate program you will learn:

• To interact effectively and positively with youth to promote supportive relationships, youth engagement, and youth leadership.
• To navigate the multiple systems (e.g., family, school, community, policy) that influence youths lives, to appreciate the diversity of these systems, and to engage with these systems to promote positive youth development.
• To design, manage, implement, and evaluate programs to enhance and support positive outcomes for youth.
• To understand theory, research, and policy about youth and youth programming and to use this research-based knowledge in a variety of ways (e.g., funding proposals, program design, policy/advocacy efforts, etc).

Career Outlook

When youth development professionals take part in higher education and ongoing learning, research shows that youth program quality improves. In this youth management certificate program, you will learn to use more effective practices and feel more confident about your work, all of which will benefit youth.

Our graduates work with various youth-serving organizations:

• Boys and Girls Club
• Big Brothers Big Sisters
• Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts
• Cooperative Extension services, 4-H programs
• Missouri State Correctional Office
• Girls, Inc.
• 21st Century Community Learning Centers
• Administration for Native Americans
• AmeriCorps
• Family and Youth Services Bureau
• Federal Youth Court Program
• Learn and Serve America
• National Guard Youth Challenge Program
• Neighborhood Networks
• Passport in Time
• Preserve America Stewards
• Promise Neighborhoods
• YouthBuild

Course Information

Core

HDFS 860/YD 823 - Youth Policy (3 Credits)
HDFS 864 - Foundations of Youth Development (1 Credit)
HDFS 892 - Contemporary Youth Issues: Youth, Families & Technology (2 Credits)
HDFS 892 - Contemporary Youth Issues: Youth, Sport and Society (3 Credits)
YD 800 - Contemporary Youth Issues: Understanding Normative Behavior in Immigrant and Minority Youth. (3 Credits)
YD 800 - Contemporary Youth Issues: Working with Adolescents with Difficulties (3 Credits)
YD 806 - Contemporary Youth Issues: Mental Health (3 Credits)
YD 820 - Contemporary Youth Issues: Grant Development and Management (3 Credits)
YD 826 - Contemporary Youth Issues: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy & Parenthood (3 Credits)

Elective

YD 804 - Program Design Evaluation and Implementation (3 Credits)
YD 807 - Youth Professionals as Consumers of Research (3 Credits)
YD 808 - Administration and Program Management (3 Credits)

Admissions Requirements

To be accepted to this program, you must have:

• A bachelor's degree
• Previous work experience
  Résume
• Taken the GRE
• Taken the TOEFL (Only required if English is not your native language)
• 3 letters of recommendation
  All applicants should include at least one academic reference. Please ask former professors, work supervisors, or others who can best assess your academic experience and potential. Provide contact information for your recommenders and the MSU application system will provide instructions to them.
• Official transcripts from all previous schools

To apply to this program:

• Complete a university graduate application
• You must also complete a department application form

GRE scores are not required if you are a U.S. resident applying to the Masters Plan B (professional track) program. International applicants must submit GRE scores for the Plan A and Plan B Masters Program. Send the GRE scores directly to the University. The code for Michigan State University is 1465. Applicants whose native language is not English must submit scores from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) taken within the last 2 years. The code for Michigan State University is 1465.