Are you interested in becoming a Ready by 21 community? Have you already started? This year’s Healthy Communities • Healthy Youth Conference has a track specifically for you. The sessions described below are geared toward Ready by 21, and will provide you with valuable information on how to implement this program in your community.
Learn more about Ready by 21
Go to the conference Web site
See a list of all conference learning sessions
Download the Ready by 21 conference track schedule
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
5:00pm–6:00pm
National Collaboration for Youth / Ready by 21 Champions Orientation
Thursday, November 5, 2009
10:45am–11:15am
Session T124
Ready by 21 Big Picture Thinking: Bringing Precision by Shedding Light on the “Black Box” or, How Do We Count All the Assets?
Presented by Ready by 21 staff.
The Ready by 21 Approach supports the fundamentals of good planning and accountability, which require leaders from different stakeholder groups to come together to “Take Aim, Take Stock, Take Action, and Track Progress.” This introductory workshop will provide a brief overview of the Ready by 21 Approach and explore tools, such as “the cube,” that help leaders Take Stock.
Because accurate, comparable, community-level information is rarely available, increasing the return on investments in tools like “the cube” can be difficult. This workshop will explore new measures and tools from RB21 partners that measure and bring precision to this work.
2:00pm–4:00pm
Breakthrough Session
Breakthrough Session One
Presented by Larry Pasti, Karen Pittman, Gene Roehlkepartain, and others.
Presenters will share their experience using Ready by 21, which highlights a powerful new way to move from surviving to thriving through national collaboration, systems thinking, and being generous with opportunities. These leaders will discuss a new wave of collaboration that promises increased efficiency and effectiveness in positive development. The time is right for a new level of partnership between those in youth and community development, so come hear stories from communities that have experienced concerted efforts from a collaboration of RB21 partners and be inspired to take action in your own community.
Friday, November 6, 2009
8:30am–10:30am
National Collaboration for Youth / Ready by 21 Convening
(By invitation only.)
1:15pm–2:45pm
Session F320
Bringing Precision to our Passion in Afterschool Settings: Management Skills and Measurement Tools for Program Quality
Presented by representatives from the David P. Weikart Center for Youth Program Quality, Ready by 21 Partners, and Kristin Johnstad, Search Institute.
This presentation, which is geared toward youth policy makers and community leaders, as well as afterschool program administrators, program managers, and practitioners, consists of four parts. First, the presenters will provide a theoretically grounded, face-valid definition of program quality that is relevant across many youth-serving organizational contexts. Following this will be a discussion of the role that instructional leaders (e.g., principals) and program managers can and should play in supporting quality improvement efforts, including helping to build and sustain professional learning communities. Next will be a review of different quality assessment tools and related supports, including the Youth Program Quality Assessment / Intervention (Youth PQA / I). Finally, the presenters will offer practical advice that audience members can use in their own program quality improvement initiatives.
Participants will come away from this session with an in-depth understanding of the critical components of sustainable quality accountability and improvement systems, as well as the management skills required to build, implement, and maintain such systems. All participants will receive copies of Youth PQA Forms A (setting-level items) and B (organization-level items) and a management competencies framework. Participants will also receive a summary of how diverse systems have deployed the YPQA/I and accompanying training and technical assistance supports.
3:15pm–4:45pm
Session F418
Big Picture Thinking: Tools for Better Partners and Bolder Strategies
Presented by Ready by 21 Staff.
This workshop will provide a brief overview of the Ready by 21 Approach and then explore in more depth the tools that can be used to recruit additional stakeholders, identify common language, and implement “dashboarding” to help leaders see the Big Picture. These Ready by 21 tools and services are aligned with those from Search Institute and will be presented in a hands-on, participatory workshop.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
8:00am–8:45am
Ideas that Cook
Ready by 21 Challenge: So All Youth Are Ready for College, Work and Life and Asset Rich
Come share best practices, learn from the experience and creativity of others, and connect with those who may be facing a similar situation as you. This is not a learning session, but a place to find inspiration! Don’t be shy; show off the T-shirt designs, handouts, gadgets, and whatever else has made an impact on your work.
