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Adaptive leadership in health and human services

The latest issue of Child Welfare Matters is devoted to explaining why and how organizations in health and human services should consider adopting the tools and processes of adaptive leadership. Child welfare and health care alike are fields overwhelmed with daily urgencies and challenges—a reality that can easily cultivate a reactive environment. Adaptive leadership, by contrast, urges organizations to take a step back and consider their challenges strategically and empower professionals on the frontline of Read more…

By Ysette, ago

First Minds On Fire advisory meeting held today!

Today my advisors and I convened in the “War Room” of AlleyNYC to work through the bones of our pilot program, Multiple Paths to Adulthood. So far the pilot is structured as a three-part program that begins with “Conversations on Adulthood,” a series of sessions that approach the topic of adulthood from various disciplinary and cultural frameworks. The objective is to expose young people to different—even conflicting—ideas of what becoming an adult means, so that Read more…

By Ysette, ago

Let’s talk about freedom, shall we?

But let’s not look to the Bill of Rights, where government is inimical to liberty, and where the abstract and unassociated subject of classical liberalism cries, Don’t tread on me. I’d rather have one of the most impassioned admirers of the American Revolution, Hannah Arendt, set the tone today. Arendt loved the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, not for their protection of individual rights, but because they marked the foundation of something radically new: Read more…

By Ysette, ago

Diversion

This evening I took down a much-beloved book off the shelf after repeatedly failing to get past the first page of a depressing memoir. The well-read volume creases open onto In the Skin of a Lion, a novel I love so much that for a few years I kept an extra copy of it around just so that one day I could pass it on without the heartache of loss. It’s been a little over a decade Read more…

By Ysette, ago

What is your roadmap for change?

Another middle-of-the-night quick resource share: the Annie E. Casey Foundation, in collaboration with Organizational Research Services (ORS), presents this document on how to construct a theory of change that describes how you intend to create impact by building on various outcomes that ultimately lead to your organizational goal (i.e., some form of individual or social transformation). ORS has also published this handy brochure on different techniques for mapping out a theory of change, from linear logic Read more…

By Ysette, ago

Teaching young people professional protocol and other skills

I had a very productive meeting with one of my youth advisors today. What made it especially great was that we got to practice skills that were “on the agenda” (how to reach out to strangers over email; how to join groups on LinkedIn), as well as some that were incidental. Here is what Nahjee and I worked on today: 1. Feeling that she is not “bothering” anybody by approaching the front desk I’ve been Read more…

By Ysette, ago

Vera’s guide to becoming an evidence-based practice

Just a quick resource share for those of you doing program work in the social services: Here is the Vera Institute of Justice‘s guide to building an evidence-based practice. As part of the MacArthur Foundation’s Models for Change Initiative, “Measuring Success” was written in response to grantees in the juvenile justice space who were concerned about the evaluation process. Nevertheless, the guidelines are broad enough to benefit other practitioners in related social services fields.

By Ysette, ago

Three important lessons about time perspective

Longtime readers of this blog might remember that I am mildly fascinated with time perspective as it relates to young people setting goals and making decisions. I recently finished Philip Zimbardo and John Boyd’s book, The Time Paradox, which is chock full of facts and insights, both interesting and provocative. The Stanford psychology professors share a lifetime’s worth of research and reflection on time and human behavior, and part of the richness of their work owes to Read more…

By Ysette, ago

The importance of networks, of community

This has been a tough week for a lot of my friends and colleagues, but what is getting many of us through has been time spent in the company of like-minded, big-hearted people. Just as it’s vital for young people to have caring adults in their lives, it continues to be necessary for all of us grown-ups to cultivate circles of support. That said, I surprised myself a little while ago by deciding that I Read more…

By Ysette, ago

Last day to see Artistic Noise exhibit at Commons Gallery

Artistic Noise gives youth in the juvenile justice system the opportunity to document their lives and express themselves through the visual arts. Their nine-month program includes life and job skills training, and culminates in an art show at a gallery. Right now Storytellers is on exhibit at the Commons Gallery. Its tagline is “No Words Necessary, Our Stories Speak,” so I was quite surprised to find that text was a central component of many of the Read more…

By Ysette, ago