|
Homepage >The QSA Tool: Get Started with Your Self-Assessment! > Relationships
Relationships
A quality program develops, nurtures, and maintains positive relationships and interactions among staff, participants, families, and communities.
More On Relationships
A quality program fosters relationships by developing them intentionally and carefully. Relationships build a positive foundation for healthy social and emotional development. To create quality relationships, staff must model cooperation and respect toward youth and other staff, use positive language that supports young people’s growth and potential, interacts with youth on a one-on-one basis, and organize activities that promote positive communication. Programs must also build relationships with external stakeholders in their communities.
Click here to fill out the Relationships section of the QSA Tool electronically.
Zooming In
For definitions of what each quality indicator might look like at performance levels 1-4, click here.
Taking Action
Program Element |
Quality Indicator |
Perf. Level |
Timeline for Improvement and Improvement Steps |
Person(s) Responsible |
Resources Needed |
Relationships |
#3 *Treats participants with respect and listens to what they say. |
1 |
Right Now |
1. Hold staff training on building positive relationships with youth.
2. Follow-up between individual staff members and Site Director to discuss lessons from the training and share additional resources. |
1. Site Director: Anne Johnson
2. Staff Members Eddie Rivera and Jessica Rubenstein
3. Youth (all)
|
1. Reports on importance of respectful relationships with youth
2. Search Institute Training Kit
|
This Year |
1. Deliberately include discussions about mutual respect and positive communication in staff meetings.
2. Implement a one-on-one “check-in” routine as a way for staff members to connect with each participant.
3. Break large groups into smaller groups to allow youth to receive more individual attention.
4. Develop staff and participant ground rules, norms, and expectations together in the form of a community agreement. |
Next Year |
1. Design program activities to provide multiple opportunities for building positive relationships between staff members and youth.
2. Ask staff members to regularly share stories when positive interactions with youth occur.
3. Create a system for Site Director and other staff to formally acknowledge staff members who maintain respectful relationships with youth, and for youth to acknowledge staff who are following the norms established in the community agreement. |
 Tips for Success
Here a few tips for promoting healthy partnerships with young people:
-
Ensure mutual respect exists. In a quality program, both adults and youth have opportunities to communicate their expertise and knowledge.
-
Share the power. Create rotating schedules of roles; for example, alternate adults and youth as meeting leaders and note-takers.
-
Everyone should contribute. Afterschool programs are a joint endeavor. Youth are not silent partners when working with adults.
|
 Try This!
Make a Personal Connection
Reflect on your interactions with the young people you work with. Is there a young person that you are having a difficult time connecting with? Challenge yourself to make a personal connection by creating a plan to develop your relationship. Questions to consider:
-
What actions can I begin to take?
-
What actions can I try to stop?
-
What is already working that I want to keep?
-
What will be a sign that demonstrates this relationship is developing?
|
Research, Tools and Templates, and Resources
Research
Caring Adults Support the Development of Healthy Youth, Center for 4-H Youth Development at the University of Minnesota
Research on the importance of adult relationships in youth development.
Massachusetts After-School Research Study, Pathways to Success for Youth: What Counts in After-School, United Way of Massachusetts Bay
Study on link between youth/staff relationships and the effectiveness of afterschool programs
Tools and Templates
Measuring the Quality of Youth-Mentor Relationships, Public/Private Ventures
Tools and surveys to measure the quality of youth-mentor relationships for mentoring programs.
Search Institute Website
Guides and kits for training staff on developing positive relationships with youth
Resources
10 Tips for Affirming Diversity and Supporting Equity in New After School Programs, California Tomorrow
Tip sheet on diversity in afterschool programs
Strategies for Increasing Peer Social Interactions: Prompting and Acknowledgement, Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning, Vanderbilt University
Article on key strategies for fostering positive relationships among youth
|
