Your organization is committed to your professional development and personal growth. As a benefit to you, your organization is a Full Access Grantee Member of the Youth Intervention Programs Association (YIPA). This means you and your team can register for the certificate course and have full access to the entire learning suite of The Professional Youth Worker for FREE.
You are encouraged to be a social activist and engage with us! Together, we'll ensure that Minnesota youth-serving programs like yours are adequately funded to meet the needs of our young people.
This membership web page will help you fully understand how to access all these resources. We strongly suggest that you follow the next three steps right now:
- Bookmark this page for future reference!
- Click Stay Connected to receive updates as new resources are added
- Explore all your learning opportunities below
If you need help, just click Ask A Question and we'll gladly assist you.
Get engaged as a social activist and become the person that our young people need on their side. We've got you covered with trainings and blogs to improve your effort.
Your team has options!
Your YIPA membership includes your entire team, staff, volunteers, board members, and even caregivers or young people too, if appropriate. You have full access to all YIPA services, including The Art & Science of Youth Work certificate course.
The Professional Youth Worker learning suite, powered by YIPA, is designed to be flexible to fit your needs, on your time. We encourage you to be creative and find what works best for your circumstances. Here are just a few ways other YIPA members have used the learning suite in their programs:
- Introduce new hires to The Professional Youth Worker as part of your onboarding process. Share this YIPA Membership web page with them right away to kick off their learning journey.
- Have new team members take the certificate course or particular trainings as part of their initial orientation, to get them on the same page with the rest of the team.
- Encourage team members to submit their training certificates of completion to a supervisor for inclusion in their review dialogues and coaching sessions.
- Have each team member complete a certain number of trainings within a given time frame (each month or quarter) and submit their certificates to a supervisor within that time frame to ensure ongoing development.
- Include a particular training in a team meeting. Have each person register for that training ahead of time so they can get their own certificate. Project the training to a screen and watch it together and then engage in a group discussion.
- Assign a training to be completed by a predetermined date and discuss it as a team during a predetermined staff development session. Have the team brainstorm for ideas about how to apply that learning to make your program more effective.
- Encourage the entire team to work through The Art & Science certificate course at the same time. You can assign one module per week or per month and discuss as a group and each person can share what they are learning about themself.
- Each team member receives the blog emails and the team discusses them as a group as it relates to the needs of your program.
- Assign a podcast episode and have each team member write a couple of paragraphs about what motivates them in their youth work.
As a YIPA member, you belong to a community of like-minded people who care deeply for our young people. Our mission is to help you build your skills and boost your passion for positively impacting young people.
Reach out to any YIPA team member if you have questions – we're here for you and always happy to help!