Youth Character and Leadership Development

Format

Individual Presentation

Format

Individual Presentation

First Presenter's Institution

Boys & Girls Clubs of America

First Presenter’s Email Address

cchen@bgca.org

First Presenter's Brief Biography

Chrissy Chen is the National Director of Youth Development Programs and Innovation for Boys & Girls Clubs of America. In this role, she’s responsible for Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s national program strategy, including the design of youth-centered program curricula, professional development, and capacity building tools to support Clubs in offering engaging and impactful experiences for youth. Since 2016, she’s been focused on ensuring all BGCA programming is adored by youth in Clubs, accessible to youth development professionals, adopted by Clubs, aligned to priorities, and impactful. Prior to joining Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Chrissy’s career in Youth Development and Education included facilitating youth leadership programming, teaching high school chemistry in Atlanta Public Schools, coordinating academic engagement for teens and young adults with brain and spinal cord injuries at the Shepherd Center, and supporting research and programming at the intersection of health and education. Chrissy received a M.ED from the Harvard Graduate School of Education with a focus on applying cognitive science to teaching and learning.

Submitter

I am submitting this proposal as one of the presenter(s)

Location

Vernon

Strand #1

Heart: Social & Emotional Skills

Strand #2

Head: Academic Achievement & Leadership

Relevance

Boys & Girls Clubs of America's program strategy aims at supporting four priority outcomes: Health and Wellbeing, Character and Leadership, Academic Success and Life and Workforce Readiness. Each of these builds upon essential social-emotional skills and comes to fruition when young people consistently have meaningful experiences, supportive relationships, and safe, inclusive environments in which to build and practice relevant skills. Each of the outcomes are interconnected, but I'd primarily focus my presentation on social and emotional skills and youth leadership.

Brief Program Description

Since 1860, the Boys & Girls Clubs have focused on character development. Although methods have evolved, our formula for impact still emphasizes character and leadership as a priority outcome. Achieving this goal necessitates not only high-quality youth development environments, relationships, and experiences but also deliberate opportunities for social-emotional growth and skill-building.

Summary

Since 1860, the Boys & Girls Clubs have focused on character development. Although methods have evolved, our formula for impact still emphasizes character and leadership as a priority outcome. Achieving this goal necessitates not only high-quality youth development environments, relationships, and experiences but also deliberate opportunities for social-emotional growth and skill-building.

This session will review data from over 140,000 annual youth survey responses, analyze trends related to social-emotional development, character and leadership and investigate approaches to exploring identity, values, and developmentally appropriate leadership opportunities.

We'll investigate a holistic and flexible approach to character development, including youth-centered experiences, professional development for staff, structures and strategies, and culminating experiences and learn together from Boys & Girls Club leaders, facilitators and youth.

Participants will leave with a framework for character development and a collection of resources and practices to leverage depending on their context and goals for supporting youth character and leadership development.

Evidence

Seitz, S. , Khatib, N. , Guessous, O. and Kuperminc, G. P. (2021). Academic Outcomes in a National Afterschool Program: The Role of Program Quality and Youth Sustained Engagement. Applied Developmental Science, DOI: 10.1080/10888691.2021.1993855

Kuperminc, G. P., Seitz, S. , Joseph, H. , Khatib, N. , Wilson, C. , Collins, K. and Guessous, O. (2019), Enhancing Program Quality in a National Sample of After‐school Settings: The Role of Youth–Staff Interactions and Staff/Organizational Functioning. Am J Community Psychol. doi:10.1002/ajcp.12329

Learning Objective 1

Connect their experiences to a framework for character development

Learning Objective 2

Articulate insights from over 140,000 youth survey responses

Learning Objective 3

Identify levers for improving character development in a variety of contexts

Keyword Descriptors

Youth Development, Character, Leadership, Identity, Social-Emotional Development

Presentation Year

2025

Start Date

3-4-2025 8:30 AM

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Mar 4th, 8:30 AM

Youth Character and Leadership Development

Vernon

Since 1860, the Boys & Girls Clubs have focused on character development. Although methods have evolved, our formula for impact still emphasizes character and leadership as a priority outcome. Achieving this goal necessitates not only high-quality youth development environments, relationships, and experiences but also deliberate opportunities for social-emotional growth and skill-building.