To help everyone understand a little bit more about Assets, and to perhaps get everyone a little more excited about attending these workshops, I wanted to give you all a little more background about Assets and how they were developed.
First of all, I wanted to make sure everyone understands that the 40 Developmental Assets is not a program, it is a research-based framework that can be used to enhance or strengthen the programs that we are already using. The Search Institute examined 800 different studies on youth development to determine what kids need to be successful.
They looked at both the good and bad. Instead of just focusing on how to avoid certain risk factors, they looked at the positive aspects of youth development that promote healthy development. What they found were 40 common themes, which became the 40 Developmental Assets.
These Assets are divided into two groups. The “Internal Assets” focus on the social competencies and values that youth develop internally to guide behaviors and choices, while the “External Assets” focus on the relationships and opportunities that young people experience in their families, schools and communities.
While mentoring certainly falls under this second category, we can also help to build the internal assets by taking time to invest in a child and model the values and social skills we want them to emulate. This process of Asset Building is what our first workshop is all about.
Since its creation in 1990, the Assets framework has become the most widely used approach to positive youth development in the United States. Over time, surveys of more than 3 million young people consistently show that the more assets young people have the less likely they are to engage in a wide range of high-risk behaviors such as alcohol and drug use, violence, and sexual activity and the more likely they are to thrive and engage in positive behaviors.
Sadly, the average young person experiences fewer than half of the 40 assets, and boys experience an average of three fewer assets than girls. We hope to change that by promoting Assets Building not only within our mentoring program but within other community programs and organizations. So I hope you will consider attending our mentor training in March and learn ways you can start building assets for the children and youth around you and help build a better world for kids.
