YOUTHSCAPES PROGRAM GOALS

Create an innovative approach to learning through community-based design education for Pennsylvania’s urban high school students

Create and institute a community-base design program and associated curriculum for urban high school students that will provide a forum for youth to explore multidisciplinary issues, while garnering life skills in leadership, problem-solving, collaboration, and communication

Develop an educational approach that capitalizes on experiential, place-based learning and design-based problem-solving to engage a variety of learning types and address learning as part of “real-world” processes

Assist schools in integrating curriculum standards in Environment and Ecology, Science and Technology, Geography, History, Art, Civics and Government, Math and English

Provide professional development opportunities for urban teachers that will assist them in developing curriculum specifically suited to the uniqueness of their urban neighborhoods and community resources

Enhance opportunities for youth-civic engagement that simultaneously provide approaches for youth development and community capacity building

Assist youth in understanding the processes (ecological, social, governmental, etc.) that influence their community and developing skills needed to participate in community-shaping activities

Institute service-learning projects that fully empower youth by engaging them in the decision-making processes involved in the selection, creation, and implementation of the project; and that address the underlying conditions that compromise the vitality of communities

Increase youth’s engagement and investment in their community by providing a framework for place-based knowledge, service learning, and intergenerational studies

Provide opportunities for youth leadership and input at all levels of program development and implementation to assure the responsiveness of the program and provide youth additional avenues for leadership development

Develop university-school-community partnerships to address urban issues and enhance the University’s outreach mission

Enhance community social capital by fostering relationships between schools and their communities to enhance students’ learning opportunities and insure that community-based school projects remain responsive to the needs of the local community

Increase the understanding and visibility of youth not only as a resource, but also as an asset in instituting positive change in communities

Promote the presence and effectiveness of Cooperative Extension and other University outreach efforts in addressing the needs of urban communities and their youth

Provide opportunities for innovative University community action research, service, and educational experiences that enhance student learning, enrich faculty research, and are responsive to real community needs