Building Competencies in Comminity Youth Worker - Essay Example

Growing realization among the public at large about the need to delve deep into the lives of our young adults, finding the cause of the growing frustration, led them to believe the lack of sufficient support system in the form of positive relationships and lack of proper opportunities for self enhancement were at the root cause of the present scenario. Moreover, as in the language of Pittman K & Ferber T in Unfinished business: Future Reflections on a Decade of Promoting Youth Development "problem-free is not fully prepared", an effective Program for Youth Development requires opportunities and environment to be given to young adolescents to build and develop their personal and social assets that will prepare them for a healthy and productive adulthood.

In spite of the presence of a number of talented youth workers, the agencies working in this field face the obstacle of the unmet need of a stable and well-trained work force that has knowledge and competence of addressing the myriad challenges facing both urban and rural youth. Moreover, their working climate is not tempting enough to attract more and more youth workers in this field. Being comparatively younger, it has yet to attain the status of a recognized and professional field. Lack of funds provided for these programs deter the organizations to make long term recruitments required for the success of these programs.

In this background, it is important to know as to which skills are required by a youth worker working in such organizations that help them develop and maintain effective relationships with youth and their families and thus reducing problems in their lives and ensuring an environment congenial to their healthy development. Building caring relationships with children and youth requires active listening and a variety of communication strategies. As public educators and practitioners of youth development, the community youth worker must possess several internal and external competencies and skill in order to deliver an effective program capable of reducing problems in the life of our young adolescents and give them an environment congenial to their thriving.

As a strong family support system is the most important requirement for a child to thrive, an ideal community youth worker is expected to bring it into the life of young adolescent by working as a bridge to bring the families together. He can interact with the parents and can make them realize the type of problems an adolescent has to undergo trying to find his identity in the outside world, which are further augmented if he belongs to a migrated community and at the same time can make the adolescent realize what their parents have to undergo with their beliefs in traditions of the community.

Thus, on the one hand, he has to be human and sensitive to the needs of diverse people and on the other hand should be conversant with the various stages of the development of a child. Changing demographics of the American society requires its community youth w