2012 Collection

​Moving Youth Work Forward:
​Reflections on Youth-Centered Practice in Minnesota
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The NorthStar Fellowship began in the fall of 2011, under the name Minnesota Walkabout Fellowship. During this inaugural year, fellows explored current issues in the field by engaging with the following questions:

• What would happen to youth work in Minnesota if we adopted a broadly shared understanding of youth work values, principles and ethics?
• What would it look like if Minnesota had a creative system of expectations and accountability for youth workers?

​Download the full collection, or each individual article linked below. ​​

​Think About It: An Exploration of Values, Principles and Ethics of Youth Work
Author: Deena McKinney*

Youth Worker Values and Approaches
Author: Angel Peluso*

Toward a Youth-Centered Approach: Creating a (New) Standard Operating Procedure through Shared Values
Author: Lindsay Walz*

Accountability with a Youth Worker Voice
Author: Emily Schloesser

The Impact of Social Contracts on Youth Work in Rural Minnesota: A Walkabout Exploration of Expectations and Accountability
Author: Cheryl Meld

Supporting Youth Workers through Reflection Circles: An Alternate Approach to Program Accountability
Author: Shaina Abraham*

Inclusivity, Engagement, Voice: A Youth-Centered Approach to Creating Professional Development Networks
Author: Shaun Kelley Walsh

It's Complicated: Crafting a System to Support Youth Work
Author: Kari Denissen Cunnien*

Building Capacity for Program Quality in Youth Work: Learnings from a Six-Year Quality Journey of the Minneapolis Beacons Network
Author: Jenny Wright Collins

2014 Collection

Moving Youth Work Practice Forward:
Reflections on Autonomy and Authority
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The articles in this volume approach the issue of autonomy and authority in many different ways. Authority in the form of funding priorities, research and evaluation claims, supervision and management approaches, and institutional climate and traditions bump up against individual youth worker experience, putting youth needs and interests first, understanding cultural implications, and organizing youth programs for success. Download the full collection, or each individual article linked below. 

Collective Impact: How backbone organizations influence change without formal authority
Author: Kara Bixby

Sex Education in Youth Work: Beyond preventing pregnancy & sexually transmitted infections
Author: Jamie Grilz

The Lack of Age-Appropriate Autonomy and Authority as a Contributing Factor in Adolescent Rebellious Behavior
Author: William Kiadii

Youth Worker Voice Matters: A case and framework for developing autonomous youth workers
Author: Ryan Kirk

Will I Be Able To Understand My Menteer? Examining the potential risk of the dominant culture mentoring marginalized youth
Author: Jennifer Lindwall

Having Courageous Conversations Regarding Latino Youth in Minnesota
Author: Chris Ochocki

Reclaiming the Traditions of My People
Arlana Lame Omaha

Honoring the Experience: Towards a Youth Staff Model for Youth Programs 
Author: Phil Rooney*

Beyond Evidence-Based Interventions For Teen Pregnancy Prevention
Author: Emily Scribner-O'Pray

Youth Development and Higher Education: Promoting college success for Minnesota's young people
Author: Maggie Whitman

Redefining Supervision in the Field of Youth Work
Author: Jocelyn S. Wiedow*

2015 Collection

Moving Youth Work Practice Forward:
Examining Rights-Based Approaches to Youth Work
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The 2014-15 NorthStar cohort coincided with the 25th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Adopted on November 20, 1989, the CRC both promotes and protects the rights of young people and acknowledges the role youth play as agents of change in their communities. The CRC is the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history with 195 countries endorsing the document. In fact, only two countries have not ratified the CRC: South Sudan and the United States.

Despite the United States not having signed on to the CRC, noted University of Minnesota researcher Dr. Gisela Konopka wrote often about the rights of young people. The CRC and Konopka’s work became the lens through which the NorthStar Fellows examined rights-based approaches to youth work in Minnesota. In this volume, readers will find papers that illustrate how youth work practice could be different if the purpose of the work was the promotion and protection of the rights of young people. Download the full collection, or each individual article linked below. 

A Youth Rights-Based Approach to Accountability in Youth Programs
Author: Rebecca Edmunds

Youth's Right to Fail
Author: Rachel Katkar

Media Consent Forms: Towards a Rights-Based Approach
Author: Ellie Kunkel*

Social Justice Youth Work: An Actualization of Youth Rights
Author: Monica McDaniel*

A Call to Action for a Human Rights-Based Approach to Youth Work
Author: Julie Richards*

Building Consistent and Authentic Student Voice into School Policies in Minneapolis Public High Schools
Author: Nou Vang

2016 Collection

Moving Youth Work Practice Forward:
Looking Back to Move Forward
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The fourth volume of Moving Youth Work Practice Forward looks back into history to examine the opportunities and challenges facing youth work in the twenty-first century. How is youth work different? How is it the same? What core values, key figures and fundamental documents from the past and present should be used to provide a solid foundation and inform youth work practice in Minnesota in the new millennium? What should be left behind? To explore these questions and more, download the full collection, or each individual article linked below.

On Being Disrupted: Youth Work and Black Lives Matter
Author: Angela Bonfiglio*

Walking the Walk: Incorporating social justice into daily youth work practice
Author: Megan Hartman

Youth Input In Grant-Making
Author: Steve Palmer

Advancing Equity in Youth Development: A call to action in a changing world
Author: Kathryn Sharpe*

Fostering Social-Emotional Learning for Youth and Staff in Out-of-School Time
Author: Brandon Tice

2017 Collection

Moving Youth Work Practice Forward:
2017 • Volume 5
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In this collection of papers, fellows explored the intersection between youth work and community organizing. Community organizing is the process where people come together to address needs in their community. Youth work can be defined as intentionally engaging young people in programs that may promote personal and social development.What happens when young people organize? Who leads this work? How do they do it? What is the role of the adult youth worker? What are the ethical considerations that must be addressed when intentionally engaging youth in civic action or social change efforts? Who is doing or has done this work in Minnesota? These questions and more were explored by this year's cohort. Their papers reflect some of the tensions and opportunities youth workers can explore in their practice. Download the full collection, or each individual article linked below. 

Value of Parental Relationship in Youth Organizing Efforts
Author: Jazmyn Becker

Dear Students: You Can Run Your Schools - A Letter from a Youth Worker to Students in Positions of Educational Leadership
Author: Grayson Carr

Aligning Youth Organizing and Social-Emotional Learning
Author: Misha Evertz
​
Advocating for Undocumented Youth
Author: Therese Genis*

2018 Collection

Moving Youth Work Practice Forward
2018 • Volume 6
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In this collection, readers will find papers that ask adults to do better in our work with and on behalf of young people. The fellows ask us to check our assumptions, our egos, and ourselves as we do our work. They challenge us to learn our history and bring humanity into dehumanizing systems, practices, and policies. Fellows invite us to seek and accept the abundance in young people, programs, and communities.

Youth Makerspaces:
History, Equity, and Innovation for Public Good
Author: Alyssa Costopoulos

Increasing Community Connection to Build Social Capital for Young People
Author: La'Shante D. Grigsby

Extending Power Sharing into Everyday Youth Work and Intervention Practices
Author: Jennifer Horton

Building a Concrete Professional Development Plan for Older Youth and Adult Mentors
Author: Molly Jackson

Pregnant and Parenting Youth in Foster Care:
What Minnesota Youth and Professionals Say They Need
Author: Sophia Maceda

Machines and Masculinities on My Mind:
An Autoethnography of a Youth Worker
Author: Zack Pierson

Transforming Volunteers to Become Engaged Stewards of Youth Organizations
Author: Nicole Pokorney

Trend or Tool? Exploring the Potential of Motivational Interviewing in Youth Work
Author: Ellen Saliares

2019 Collection

Moving Youth Work Practice Forward
2019 • Volume 7

The papers in this collection reflect the diverse perspectives and identities of the fellows. Readers will find discussions on race, culture, systems, and other factors that affect the lives of young people and youth workers. The fellows invite readers to examine their own assumptions, rethink the relationship between systems and practices, and how to truly care for ourselves and each other.

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Elements To Facilitating Youth Participatory Action Research to Support Community Change  
Author: Rozlyn Anderson

Increasing Accessible Youth Space for Young People of Color Through Kinship, Social Action, and
Prevention Negative Environments or Activities 
Author: Ieshia Dabbs

Exploring Gender-Specific and Gender-Inclusive Youth Programming 
Author: Leah Eby

Youth Development Theory as a Basis for Vision of Successful Programs 
Author: Dena Luna

An Examination of Youth-Work Praxis as It Affects Program Engagement
Author: Rebecca Peeper
​
From "Amazing Dream" to Reality:
An Investigation into the Relationship Between Youth Work and Housing Work
Author: Jocelyn Pickreign

Lived Experiences of Rural LGBTQ+ Youth
Author: Joseph Rand

Power Sharing with Justice-Involved Youth
Author: Kaela Schweisthal

The Unrecognized American Citizen: The Power of Perception and the Effects It Has on Individuals' Health Care
Author: Farji Shaheer
​
Building Up Leaders: A Response to Engage Young People in the Homeless Community
Author: Hallelujah Tamene

Culture and Power-Sharing in Programs for Urban American Indian Youth
Author: Logan Tootle