Resources and Assets among Jane/Finch Youth

Uzo Anucha, PhD Associate Prof & Graduate Program Director

School of Social Work, York University

Learning Circle – United Way June 15th, 2012

Presentation Outline

Research Context • The Assets Coming Together for Youth Project • The Survey of Student Resources and Assets Findings • Demographics of Survey Participants • Jane-Finch Youth and the Five Fundamental Resources • The 40 Developmental Assets’ Profile of J-F Youth • Summary of Key Findings Research to Action: Building Assets for Youth • NOISE for Social Change Project Discussion – Comments and Questions

Research Context

The ACT for Youth Project

The Survey of Student Resources and Assets

Assets Coming Together for Youth: The ACT for Youth Project

• The ACT for Youth Project (2009 – 2014) is a community-university research partnership that is focused on developing a comprehensive youth strategy that will outline how urban communities like the Jane-Finch community can build assets for youth. – Funded through a $1 Million Community-

University Research Alliance grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC CURA)

ACT’s Project Team

• A cross-sectoral alliance of community stakeholders and an interdisciplinary network of scholars: – 31 project team members (13 community members; 15

academic members; graduate students; and youth) – 27 community partners (Youth-led / Youth-centred Organizations;

Multi-service Community Organizations; Faith-based Organizations; Provincial / National Organizations; Coalitions)

• Five Research-Themed Working Groups – Youth Survey – Youth Voices – Youth Education and Employment Strategies – (Re)Framing Public Discourse – Evaluation and Monitoring

A Commitment to Youth Engagement

• Summer CBR Institute • Research Internships • Research Assistantships – ex:

– 10 youth from each high school trained as YSAs to assist with the administration of the survey (n=33)

– Contributed 550 hours and paid $8,980 – YSAs participated in a paid orientation and training

session at York University led by a youth intern • Youth-Led Committee

Survey of Student Resources and Assets

Five Fundamental Resources • Five wrap-around supports that young people need for

success in life – Ongoing relationships with caring adults – Safe places and structured activities during non-school

hours – A healthy start for a healthy future – Marketable skills through effective education – Opportunities to serve

Forty Developmental Assets • External Assets: structures, relationships, and activities that

create a positive environment for young people • Internal Assets: internal values, skills, and beliefs that

young people also need to fully engage with and function in the world around them

ACT’s Survey of Student Resources and Assets

• 1706 Jane-Finch students (Grades 6 to 12) in the following TDSB schools completed the survey: – Emery Collegiate Institute (n=500) – C. W. Jeffery’s Collegiate Institute (n = 234) – Westview Centennial Secondary School (n = 396) – Oakdale Park Middle School (n = 246) – Brookview Middle School (n = 186) – J/F students in 3 schools outside J/F (n = 144)

• Northview Heights Secondary School • North Albion Collegiate Institute • William Lyon McKenzie Collegiate Institute

FINDINGS

Demographics of Participants Jane-Finch Youth and the Five Resources

Summary of Key Findings

Demographics of Student Participants (N = 1592)

Gender Male Female

719 860

46 % 54 %

Grade 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

139 161 100 234 208 347 398

9 % 10 % 6 % 15 % 13 % 22 % 25 %

Race/Ethnicity (Top Five)

East Asian South Asian Black African Black Non-African Multi-racial

377 479 241 217 85

24 % 31 % 15 % 14 % 5 %

Resource #1: Ongoing Relationships

with Caring Adults • With Parents: Majority of youth see their parents as supportive and

an important resource. Areas to pay attention to: – Conversations about important concerns such as drugs, alcohol,

sex or some other serious issue: • only 42% say yes or probably (goes down to 38% and 35% in

grades 11 and 12) – Help with Homework:

• Only 22% say parents help with homework…40% in grade 6 but drops to 18%, 12% and 15% in grades 10, 11 and 12 respectively.

• While 26% of males say parents help, only 19% of females say parents help.

– Parents go to meetings and events at schools: • Only 27% said very often or often. ….higher in middle school

(40%, 31%, 30%) and lower in high school (23% in grade 12)

Resource #1: Ongoing Relationships

with Caring Adults • With Teachers: majority of students feel teachers are

supportive (care about me – 67%, get lots of encouragement – 57% and push me to be the best – 67%). – Higher in middle schools but drops sharply from Gr 8

to Gr 9: EX: Cares about me – from 81% to 57%; get lots of encouragement at school – from 66% to 62%; push me to be the best I can be – from 86% to 67% .

– An interesting gender difference: while 70% of males believe that teachers push them to be the best they can, only 64% of females believe the same; while 63% of males believe ‘my teachers really care for me’, 59%

Resource #1: Ongoing Relationships

with Caring Adults • With Adults in the Community:

– Only 36% of youth feel that there a lot of people in their community who care about them.

– This number is slightly higher for middle school students …Gr 6 – 48%; Gr 7 – 44%; Gr 8 - 44% but drops sharply to 38% in grade 9.

• Youth Who Have Mentors: – Only 28% of youth have a formal mentor. – Higher in grades 6 to 8: Gr 6 – 36%; Gr 7 – 28%; Gr 8

– 28% but drops in Gr 9 to 24% – Majority (about 81%) do not see their mentors about

once in a week.

Resource #2: Safe Places and Structured

Activities During Non-school Hours

• Where do youth go after school? – Majority of youth go home after school 3 days or more

days in the week– 77% – Only 40% spend time in youth programs

• Hours spent in structured activities: 73% of youth take part in no clubs or activities outside of school

• Sense of Safety: Generally, youth feel the safest at home (80%) and followed by school (61%). – 48% of youth report that they feel afraid once in a

while or sometimes in the neighborhood and the places they go after school (43%).

Resource #3:

A Healthy Start for a Healthy Future • There is a counselor/social worker/psychologist you could

talk to if you are feeling sad or bummed out and wanted to talk to someone: 26%......

• Health education classes: 3 or more times classes talked about: alcohol and drugs – 40 %; and sexuality – 40%. Healthy identity: youth have healthy/positive identity, or positive projections about their future: On the whole, I like myself: 84%; all in all, I am glad I am me: 86%; motivation for achievement: 79%; and positive view of personal future: 72%

• Health values and skills: much higher in females

Resource #4: Marketable Skills

through Effective Education • Majority …82%...think their education is preparing them

for a future job. • 88% of youth have worked zero hours in a paid job.

Goes down to 79% in Gr 11 and 64% in Gr 12 • Majority of youth have watched or helped someone do

their job to learn about it: 78%. Goes up to 81% in Gr 12. • But almost half of youth have not talked about a job they

are interested in with the person doing that kind of job: 44%...goes down to 37% in Gr 12.

• Youth who don’t think that skills from current responsibilities are preparing them for a future job: 45%.

• Youth who know how to use a computer to do schoolwork, find info or type papers: 90%

Resource #5:

Opportunities for Youth to Serve

• Majority of youth (68%) feel that they are not given an opportunity to make their community a better place to live in….more grade 9 students feel this way (78%).

• More than 1 in 3 youth (39%) have never been asked in a 12 month period to help while only 27% have been asked 3 or more times.

• Explains why a majority of youth are not volunteering (54%) while only 33%, 8% and 5% are contributing 1-2 hours, 3-5 hours, and 6 or more hours weekly.

• The most common kind of service is helping someone who is having trouble with school – 38% of youth do this 1-2 hours a week.

The 40 Developmental Assets’ Profile of Jane-Finch Youth

Assets Profile of Jane-Finch Youth Top external and Internal Assets The Protective Power of Assets

40 Development Assets’ Profile of

Jane-Finch Youth • Summary of Assets:

– 0-10 assets: 10% – 11-20 assets: 43% – 21-30 assets: 40% – 31-40 assets: 7%

• Average number of assets: 20 • Males: 18.8 • Females: 20.9

• Grade Level: • Higher in middle schools: Gr 6: 22.3; Gr 7: 22.5; Gr 8: 21.7 • Lower in high schools:

Recommended number of assets is 31

Top External and Internal Assets

• External Assets:

– All assets under Commitment to Learning are higher than 50% except for Reading for Pleasure”…only 27% of youth (19% of males and 33% of females) said yes.

– All assets under Positive Values, Social Competencies are high. – All values under positive Identity are higher than 50% except

Personal Power which is 28%

• Internal Assets: Some troubling numbers: – Though youth feel they have family support (65%), only 25% say

yes to ‘parent involvement in schooling’ – Support from ‘other adult relationships’ – 29%. – Empowerment: community values youth – 17%, youth as

resources – 32%; service to others is 46% – Constructive use of time: creative activities – 12% and time at

home – 74%

The Protective Power of Assets

• Why assets matter to youth: youth with more assets are

less likely to engage in risk taking behaviors and more likely to have thriving indicators: – School Truancy: skipped school once or more in the last 4

weeks – 39%of youth but…. • 60% - 0-10 assets; 44% - 11-22 assets; 30% - 21-30 assets;

21% - 31-40 assets. – Alcohol: used alcohol once or more in the last 30 days – 17% of

youth but… • Only 9% of youth with 21-30 assets and 5% of 31 to 40 assets

– Maintains good health: pays attention to healthy nutrition and exercise: 52% of youth but…

• While 41% of youth with 11-20 assets and 64 of youth with 21-30 assets. 89% of youth with 31-40 assets.

Assets and resources DECLINE as youth get OLDER. This decline is most PRONOUNCED in the Grade 8 to Grade 9 TRANSITION.

Summary Finding #1: Assets Decline as Youth Get Older

Assets

Age

Summary Finding #2: Resilient Youth, Weak Supports

RESILIENCE is an ASSET amongst youth in the Jane/Finch

community with high reports of POSITIVE/HEALTHY

IDENTITIES and POSITIVE PROJECTIONS about their

futures.

Summary Finding #3: Parents are an Important Resource

Youth count their PARENTS as an important RESOURCE,

claiming strong parental INVOLVEMENT in their lives.

Summary Finding #4: Education Matters for Youth But…

Youth exhibit STRONG BELIEF in the value of EDUCATION, but are

DISENGAGED at their schools and are UNABLE to LEVERAGE

skills for the WORK PLACE.

Finding #5: Youth Need for More Adult Mentors

Youth feel like they DO NOT have ADULT MENTORS and ROLE MODELS in the community. • Youth who have a formal mentor (not parents):

29% (avg. 28%) • Adult role models (not parents): 31% (avg.

30%) • In my neighbourhood, there are a lot of people

who care about me: 35% (avg. 36%)

Research to Action

NOISE for Social Change

Research to Action:

Building Assets for Youth

Two Key questions: • How can we create pathways for youth to

assets and resources in the community at different levels: homes, schools, and afterschool programs?

• How can we build resources and assets for youth to address gaps at different levels?

NOISE for Social Change • In May 2012, the School of Social Work will pilot “NOISE

for Social Change” – a research-informed model that will focus on enhancing the academic success of first year undergraduate students, final year master’s students and youth from the Jane-Finch community through engaged learning opportunities that energize and support their civic engagement and psychosocial wellbeing.

• NOISE will provide Jane-Finch youth with: – expanded learning opportunities that enable

experiential learning in out-of-school settings – meaningful connections with adults that support

school engagement and academic achievement

Project Information

Project Website: www.yorku.ca/act Project Email: actadmin@yorku.ca

ACT’s Principal Investigator:

Dr. Uzo Anucha Associate Professor & Graduate Program Director

School of Social Work, York University 416-736-2100 Ext. 70625

anucha@yorku.ca