Dilemmas in Youth Work and Youth Development Practice

Laurie Ross is an Associate Professor of Community Development and Planning in the Department of International Development, Community and Environment at Clark University in Worcester, MA. She teaches on the Community Development and Planning Masters program and directs Clarks Certificate Program in Youth Work Practice. She engages in collaborative action and research with community partners on issues such as youth and gang violence, youth homelessness, and youth worker professional education. Shane Capra is the Youth Program Coordinator and Co-op Incubation Coordinator at the Worcester Roots Project. He received his masters in Community Development and Planning at Clark University in 2013. His final masters paper is entitled "Re-orienting the map: exploring dilemma-based competency in social justice youth development." Lindsay Carpenter is a Career Counselor with Job Corps, whose youth work has focused on young women and violence prevention. She received her masters in Community Development and Planning at Clark University in 2011. Her final masters paper is entitled "A framework to analyze youth workers response to risky behavior: considerations of youth worker skill and organizational capacity." Julia Hubbell is a Middle School Network Liaison within the Cambridge Public Schools where she creates awareness and connects young people to out-of-school time (OST) opportunities. Her professional background has been with youth in urban areas where she has held roles in schools as an educator and also OST settings as a youth worker. She received her Masters in Community Development and Planning at Clark University in 2012. Her final Masters paper is entitled "Dilemmas in youth work: a journey toward developing expertise." Kathrin Walker is an Associate Professor and Specialist in Youth Work Practice at the University of Minnesota Extension Center for Youth Development. Her research explores the dilemmas that practitioners face in their everyday work with young people and their strategies for addressing these challenges.

1. Becoming a Youth Worker 2. Learning to 'Read': Cultivating Ecological Intelligence 3. Navigating Inexperience: How Reflection Guides Practice for a Novice Youth Worker 4. Balancing High Expectations, Program Structure, and Youth Realities: Making Kids Fit the Program or the Program Fit the Kids 5. Balancing Conflicting Values from Home, a Youth Organization, and the Community: Keeping Youth Wellbeing at the Center of Youth Work 6. Youth Worker and Organizational Responses to Risky Behavior and Dangerous Situations 7. Balancing Youth Privacy with the Youth Worker's Need for Information: The Importance of Organizational Support in Dilemma Resolution 8. Activating Personal Knowledge to Balance the Needs of High-risk Youth with the Safety of Others in the Program 9. 'When I Heard Who it Was, I Knew it Wasn't a Real Gun': 'Reading' the Context to Maintain Safety 10. 'Do They Think We're Not in Charge?': Addressing Dilemmas that Arise in a Social Justice Youth Development Approach 11. Cross-cutting Themes and Implications for Youth Worker Professional Development