Centering Youth Voice Using Peer Facilitators in Relationship Education to Engage and Empower Youth Join Kelley Luckett and Daiya Thompson of the Louisville YMCA as they discuss lessons learned over the last two years of implementing Love Notes in Teen Vibe Camps using peer facilitators. Teen Vibe Camps, offer a transformative blend of summer camp nostalgia and comprehensive curriculum sessions. Through activities like podcasting, music, and social media graphics, these camps foster a sense of community and belonging. Statistical evidence showcases significant shifts in positive identity markers among attendees who form trusted adult connections and show higher program engagement. Complementing this approach is an innovative Peer Facilitator model, which introduces youth as Love Notes facilitators. Peer facilitators excel in building trust, fostering community, and encouraging participation outscoring adult facilitators in quality observation scores. Through a dual-track system involving collaboration with local high schools and self-selection from camp attendees, peer facilitators…
Peer Facilitator
What happens when you organize college undergraduates to provide healthy marriage and relationship education (HMRE) to their peers in a structured service-learning class? This presentation will describe a community engagement strategy and pedagogical approach to prepare emerging professionals and strengthen romantic relationships by utilizing undergraduate peer educators to facilitate HMRE to other undergraduate students in their campus community. Join Drs. McElwain and Finnegan as they discuss the process of training, planning, and implementing content from the evidence-based Love Notes curriculum that helped college peers see human development and family relations concepts “come to life,” open a “whole new world” of career opportunities, and develop key professional skills. Objectives: Participants will be able to: Understand the benefits of a peer education model for delivering HMRE through structured university service-learning courses. Identify peer impact and practical gains of facilitating relationship education through a service-learning experience Learn from peer educators’ reflections on their…
Youth Voice and Youth Engagement are pillars in youth development and program implementation. As part of the implementation plan for their Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) grant, The YMCA of Greater Louisville partnered with the Teaching and Learning Magnet of Central High School to train seniors as peer facilitators in Love Notes. The peer facilitators then led sessions of Love Notes with adult support, both within their schools and at other community programs. Join YMCA of Louisville’s TPP grant manager, Kelley Luckett, as she describes their model of program implementation that uses peer facilitators to increase both youth voice and engagement. This presentation will demonstrate how this model benefits not only the youth participants but also the peer facilitators. Objectives: Participants will be able to: Describe how the YMCA of Louisville used peer facilitators in the implementation of Love Notes. Explain how the use of peer facilitators increases youth voice. Explain…