Raising Our Bar

Recently, select DVULI staff and facilitators attended workshops to enhance their understanding of content delivered in two key DVULI training modules.
 
In July, Ron Carter (Birmingham 1999) and Peter O’Donnell attended a training conducted by the Arbinger Institute in McLean, Virginia. The Arbinger material, in particular the book The Anatomy of Peace, is critical to the Systems Thinking content presented at the second national conference. Ron Carter said, “I was amazed by the many sectors–business, education, health care, military, government, ministry–being impacted by this training.” Both Ron and Peter are now certified Arbinger trainers. 
 
Zoraida Velez and Domingo Mota (Los Angeles, 2005) traveled to Hartford, Connecticut, for a three-day workshop offered by the Search Institute in August. The training focused on becoming an “asset builder,” a term describing leaders who intentionally help young people gain access to resources that support them to become their best selves. “Asset builder is very consistent with [the second local workshop], where the emphasis is on finding what’s going ‘right,’ rather than what’s ‘wrong,’ and focusing on what is—an asset-mindset— rather than on what is lacking—a deficit-mindset,” Domingo said. The 40 Developmental Assets® for Youth is presented in DVULI’s Community Youth Development workshop.
 
This investment in our team will enable DVULI to further strengthen its capacity to train and empower urban youth workers across the country.