The Promote, Raise, and Optimize (PRO) Positive Youth Development Certificate Program is an innovative, online, self-paced professional training program that provides tools to activate intentional skill-building and thriving for young people.
The PRO Certificate Program provides training for the PRO Approach. The PRO Approach activates and embeds intentional skill-based learning through interactions and activities with young people and their families/support systems to help them achieve a personal sense of agency and thriving.
The PRO Approach applies to all young people between the ages of 10 and 25 years old in in a variety of settings. It is designed to be a roadmap for “how” to build leading practices from the Positive Youth Development (PYD) Framework and other science-based fields into programming while also attending to varying levels of vulnerability to risk. It purposefully addresses a long-standing gap in delivering PYD-driven programming to young people who are vulnerable to risk for problem behaviors such as (but not limited to) substance abuse, gang membership, delinquency, and/or violence.
The PRO Approach reframes engagement with young people from a traditional risk-based approach to one that uplifts cutting-edge practices from the PYD Framework and other disciplines including:
- Adolescent brain development
- Trauma-informed and healing-centered practices
- Prevention science, and
- The Science of Teaching and Learning Access
Completing the PRO Certificate Program enhances your ability to foster thriving among young people in any setting by:
- Learning cutting-edge practices to foster thriving among young people
- Using interactive content, animations, and videos to illustrate leading practices in the field
- Applying downloadable, step-by-step guides to activate intentional skill-building for young people
- Learning innovative and measurable strategies to capture and improve program effectiveness
- Receiving a non-credit Certificate of Completion from Cal State LA’s College of Professional and Global Education (PaGE).
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Nationwide and locally, the youth-serving sector is more committed than ever to engaging young people in high-quality and research-supported enrichment activities across Out-of-School-Time (OST) programming that includes sports, the creative arts, cultural literacy, science, technology, arts, and math (STE(A)M), recreation, prevention services, and intervention services.
Relatedly, youth justice reform is at its highest level in decades as advocates uplift the voices and experiences of young people impacted in the community, in schools and in the child welfare and/or juvenile justice systems.
This level of commitment and vision represents a critical moment in history by activating engagement and learning within the Positive Youth Development (PYD) Framework. Although many know how to talk about doing PYD work, few resources are available to show those working directly with young people “how” to implement these principles at the ground level.
The PRO Approach is designed specifically as a “how to” guide for designing and delivering PYD-driven practice. This framework “fits” into any type of engagement with young people and any type of activity delivered to young people regardless of the setting. In doing so, The PRO Approach helps define a new, 21st-century approach to working with young people in a diverse array of settings and across varying levels of need.
Anyone engaging with and passionate about serving young people between the ages of 10 and 25! This includes (but is not limited to):
- Professionals, agency staff, and sports coaches who deliver programming to young people in afterschool and Out of School (OST) settings which includes (but is not limited to) afterschool activities, extracurricular activities, sports teams and parks and recreational programming.
- Professionals and agency staff who provide prevention and intervention services to young people and their families/support systems in the community and/or as part of programming delivered within the child welfare and/or juvenile justice systems (e.g. diversion services, gang prevention, and intervention, substance abuse services, and re-entry/transitional services).
- Credible messengers and those with lived expertise who engage with and provide case management services, mentoring, and/or support services to young people and their families/support systems.
- All staff working in the juvenile justice system which includes (but is not limited to) detention services, probation intake and supervision officers, juvenile detention staff, residential care staff, correctional facility staff, and support services/activities offered in the community and residential care.
- All staff who interact with young people and their families within child protective services which includes (but is not limited to) social workers, therapists and support services/activities offered in the community and by foster families.
- Dependency and delinquency court staff, including all attorney groups and judges.
- Students at the community college and university level who are majoring in disciplines that involve career paths working with young people, particularly those who are vulnerable to risk for problem behaviors/system involvement (e.g., child development, criminal justice, and many others).
- Other professionals and staff who interact with young people vulnerable to risk in day-to-day settings, such as teachers, school-based administrators, counselors, therapists and librarians.
The objectives of The PRO Certificate Program are to:
- PROMOTE the core conditions needed to build Equitable and Transformative Learning and Development Ecosystems in partnership with young people.
- RAISE the capacity of youth workers and provider agencies to create the core conditions needed to build Equitable and Transformative Learning and Development Ecosystems in partnership with young people.
- OPTIMIZE the design and delivery of intentional opportunities to learn core skills and competencies within Equitable and Transformative Learning and Development Ecosystems.
After completing The PRO Certificate Program, learners will be able to:
- Identify how their interaction with and services for young people currently aligns with the prevention science or risk-based approach.
- Identify how their work with young people currently aligns with the Positive Youth Development framework.
- Develop ways in which their work can align with the PRO Approach.
- Create one strategy to practice a safe, supportive, healing, and respectful environment for themselves at work or in their personal life.
- Create one strategy to practice safe, supportive, healing, and respectful environments for young people.
- Design one intentional interaction opportunity with a young person using the Activating Intentional Moments (AIMs) approach.
- Design one intentional youth development activity using the Activating Intentional Youth Development Activities (AIYDA) approach.
The PRO Certificate Program is an online, self-paced program that requires approximately 15-20 hours to complete. Learners in The PRO Certificate Program will engage in interactive content that includes animations and videos to explain key practices and downloadable step-by-step guides to demonstrate how to activate intentional skills-based learning within safe, supportive, healing, and respectful environments.
The Pro Certificate Program includes the following modules:
- Welcome to The PRO Approach
- Module 1: The Foundations and an Overview of The PRO Approach
- Module 2: Diversity Competency and Safe, Supportive, Healing, and Respectful Environments (SSHaREs)
- Module 3: Activating Intentionality and Transformative Learning
- Module 4: Activating Intentional Moments (AIMs)
- Module 5: Activating Intentional Youth Development Activities (AIYDA)
- Wrapping Up
Upon successful completion of the program, students will receive a Certificate of Completion from Cal State LA’s College of Professional and Global Education (PaGE). Successful completion requires the following:
- Completion of all modules and end-of-module quizzes within three months of enrollment into the course i.e., directly following payment for access to the Canvas shell (Cal State LA's learning management system).
- Completion of a PRO Pre-Survey and a PRO Post-Survey.
- In addition to these requirements, we strongly recommend maintaining a PRO Journal to respond to reflection questions presented throughout the curriculum.
The cost of The PRO Certificate Program is $500.
This fee covers all program modules, interactive content, and your Certificate of Completion. Financial aid is not available and Cal State LA's College of Professional and Global Education (PaGE) does not offer loans for this program, but the knowledge and skills are priceless!
Learners interested in completing The PRO Certificate Program can register and begin training anytime. Payment must be made in full to access course materials.
The PRO Certificate Program is an online, self-paced program that contains five (5) modules, and welcome and wrap-up modules. Completion is self-paced and estimated to take approximately 15-20 hours. The curriculum must be completed within three (3) months after enrollment.
Completion of a high school diploma or GED is recommended but not required to enroll and complete The PRO Certificate Program.
Please read Cal State LA's Non-Discrimination Policy.
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Do you still have questions about The PRO Certificate Program? Please email the College of Professional & Global Education or call 888.541.3852.
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