Deborah Fisher, Trainer

Deborah Fisher
Search Institute Trainer
Home State: Washington

Professional Expertise

In addition to being a Search Institute Trainer, Deborah Fisher is a writer and consultant on children and family issues, and specializes in Developmental Assets and positive youth development.

Other expertise includes:

  • Community mobilization
  • Nonprofit strategic planning and management
  • Communications and media relations
  • Facilitation and instruction
  • Technical writing
  • Large project development and management

Contributions to Search Institute and Major Publications

As a community instigator, Deborah has helped many Puget Sound organizations infuse assets into their work as well as design and implement asset-based projects. Her work has included guiding community projects aimed at reducing youth violence, helping start and support local family support centers and Healthy Communities • Healthy Youth initiatives, and teaching asset development to youth workers and community members.

As a speaker, Deborah has taught a variety of audiences around the country about Developmental Assets with an emphasis on sharing practical lessons, tips, and stories gleaned from her work and writing. Audiences have included the Allen County, Indiana Superior Court Conference on Youth, the YMCAs of Indianapolis and Greater Seattle, the Search Institute National Conference, the New York State Office of Children & Family Services Strategic Collaborative County Planning Conference, Assets for Colorado Youth, and the School’s Out Washington Annual Conference.

Deborah is one of Search Institute’s most prolific authors. In addition to writing dozens of articles for the quarterly magazine Assets, Deborah has authored five books for the Institute:

  • Assets in Action: A Handbook for Making Communities Better Places to Grow Up
  • Working Shoulder to Shoulder: Stories and Strategies of Youth-Adult Partnerships That Succeed
  • Just When I Needed You: True Stories of Adults Who Made a Difference in the Lives of Young People
  • Getting To Outcomes with Developmental Assets: Ten Steps to Measuring Success in Youth Programs and Communities (co-authored with Pamela Imm, Matthew Chinman, and Abe Wandersman)
  • A Quick-Start Guide to Building Assets in Your Prevention Program

Professional History

Deborah is a freelance writer with more than 30 years’ experience in national print and online magazine work, project management, and nonfiction writing. She is a former award-winning Minnesota Public Radio legal affairs reporter and National Public Radio contributor. In addition to working as a strategic planner and executive director in the nonprofit world, she has experience in film, video, and corporate projects. She has written a variety of nonprofit and government reports on children’s health, statewide domestic violence planning, and school dropout prevention. She currently specializes in a co-authored series of planning and Getting To Outcomes–based technical manuals on preventing teen pregnancy and sexual violence for the Centers for Disease Control as well as a GTO-based sustainability toolkit for drug and alcohol prevention coalitions in the state of Tennessee.

Deborah conducts the following workshops:

  • Who Was There for You? The Power of Building Positive Relationships with Youth
  • Raising Resilient Special Needs Kids: 40 Strength-Based Tools for Parents

To see more details on the many projects on which Deborah has worked, visit her Web site at www.deborahfisher.org

Education

M.A. in broadcast journalism, University of Minnesota
B.A. in journalism, California State University, Sacramento

Awards and Honors

  • Feature and spot news reporting awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, UPI International, Page 1 Awards, and Minnesota AP Broadcaster Achievement Awards
  • Writers Guild–sanctioned staff internship, Paramount Studios
  • National Recreation and Parks Association award for “Seen AND Heard,” a co-produced video featuring teens talking about building assets for the city of Redmond, Washington

Community Activities

  • Board chair, Clarion West Writers Workshop
  • Assistant Director, Seattle Knights/Swashbucklers
  • Former Board chair, Washington Council on Crime and Delinquency
  • Founding member, Northwest Screenwriters Guild
  • Former member, Minnesota State Bar Media Committee

Request Deborah Fisher for the following trainings by calling Search Institute Training at 800-294-4322 (outside the United States, dial 207-642-6270).

Moving the Needle: An Introduction to Asset Evaluation

  • A 90-minute to 2-hour introduction to the basics of asset-oriented evaluation

Introduction to the Developmental Assets Framework

  • A 60- to 90-minute introduction to the basics of Developmental Assets

Getting to Outcomes with Developmental Assets: Ten Steps to Measuring Success in Youth Programs and Communities

  • A one-day introductory workshop

Getting to Outcomes with Developmental Assets: Ten Steps to Measuring Success in Youth Programs and Communities

  • A two-day, intensive workshop that provides an introduction and covers plan development

Deborah is also available to do 2- to 4-hour introductory sessions on Getting to Outcomes with Developmental Assets.

For more information, call 800-294-4322 or e-mail us.