YDEV Elevator Speech

What is Youth Development? Well, Youth Development is informal education to young people through STEAM, social issues, recreational fun, through purposeful play, and through caring for the young people. By doing so youth workers will be able to teach young people lessons that they normally will not learn in a typical classroom setting. Youth Development is seen through care and purposeful play because we show that we care for the young people by being there when they need and helping them with what they need, if we can help, and purposeful play comes in and is seen as a way for children to still learn, but in a playful manner. For example, we turn a lesson that would come off as not being interesting and making it interesting by adding in a lesson that engages the children and helps them learn the lesson. Youth Development is complex and there is not a specific manner of how it works, youth work is different wherever you see it happening, it works because young people and youth workers work together to create an environment where learning happens.