Rethink Resources

Freechild Take a look at their site here

Engaging young people in social change is the only way to solve the serious dilemmas our world faces. Freechild provides resources and training for youth and adults who want engage young people in the communities, nations and world we share everyday.

Chicago Recovery Alliance Harm reduction resources here

An amazing amount of written and visual resources on harm reduction: topics like better vein care, safer injection with pictures and easy to remember phrases, harm reduction guidelines for syringe exchange, training new volunteers on harm reduction, overdose prevention and intervention, and hepatitis info.

National Runaway Switchboard Runaway Prevention Curriculum here

Let’s Talk is an interactive, 14 module curriculum intended to build life skills; increase knowledge about runaway resources and prevention; educate about alternatives to running away; and encourage youth to access and seek help from trusted community members. The curriculum is intended for grades 6-12 but can be adapted for broader use.

Streetworks: Best Practices and Standards in Outreach Methodology to Homeless Youth (2006) Contact StreetWorks@FreeportWest.org or call 612-252-2735 on how to order your copy

This manual covers a broad spectrum of core skills for Outreach Workers, youth workers and youth advocates. Included are skill-building techniques for the approach, engagement, and assessment of homeless youth; boundaries and ethics for working with youth and colleagues; and supervision of street outreach. Chapters in this manual also cover topics such as: GLBTQQ youth, outreach methodology, sexuality, mental health, disabled youth, other specific populations (such as street-addicted youth and youth who are involved in counter cultures or gangs), abusive relationships, sex industry, survival sex, and many other issues facing youth encountered through street outreach and youth work.

Ideas Bank of Creative Activities for Children at Drop-in or Residential Centres (Low Budget Activities for Non-literate Children) (2001) Download the report here

As discussed in our other training materials, it is often preferable to wait until the child is ready to leave prostitution and asks for your help, than to bully him/her into exiting. You want them to come to see you at your centre and eventually enjoy being there enough to allow you to start working on other needs, such as education and counselling. As freedom is a major component of the child’s life, fun is one way to encourage them to use your centre. We believe that through fun activities, you can begin to engage street children, make them feel comfortable with you, and also address a number of issues of character building at the same time.

InterNetwork for Youth www.in4y.com

The InterNetwork for Youth (or in4y.com) provides an Internet based network of resources and information for youth workers, specifically those working with runaway and homeless youth or implementing a Youth Development approach. Our mission is: to promote positive perspectives of young people, to provide youth workers with skills and resources, to advocate for youth rights, youth/adult partnerships, and the Youth Development approach.

Street Culture: An Epistemology of Street-dependent Youth (1998) Find info here

Street Culture presents the world as it is perceived by youth on the streets. Using stories from true-life experiences to support the material, Street Culture defines barriers to serving this hard-to-reach population, and provides proven techniques and solutions that both staff and volunteers can use to overcome the challenges they face. If your organization works with street-dependent youth in any capacity, or if you are simply interested in learning more about the lives of homeless youth, you’ll find Street Culture to be an invaluable resource for information that is available nowhere else.

Effective Youth Collaboration and Engagement: Key Issues (2004) Download the report here

…(I)t was more effective to ask them about a time they had felt respected, valued, and that they had input into decisions affecting their lives. Once they had recalled that experience they were able to speak to elements that would be important to ensuring truly collaborative projects. Of the youth consulted, four key areas impacting collaboration (with youth in the sex trade) emerged.

Being There, Being Real: A Guide to Building Peer Based Support and Training for Experiential Youth and Those Who Would Work With Them (2006) Download the report here

We intentionally built this manual to be as honest about the challenges we encountered in doing this work as the young women were sharing their experiences with us. That is, we will cover all of the triumphs and tragedies that unfolded and share our learnings. We learned quite clearly that there is a danger to this work not only for experiential youth, but as professionals as well. Learning to care about and for the young women we worked with meant struggling with grief and loss, feeling as though we were often without a compass, and challenging what it meant to say that you were there to support each other and what that actually meant. We have learned that the insistence that this work be done with the utmost of care and mindfulness is not only well founded but critical. Most importantly, we have learned that it means .being there; and being real. through it all.

Sacred Lives: Canadian aboriginal children & youth speak out about sexual exploitation (2000) Download the report here

Over a period of five months, consultations with more than 150 commercially sexually exploited Aboriginal children and youth took place in 22 communities across Canada, consisting of major cities, smaller communities, and more rural areas…Two young Aboriginal women, Cherry Kingsley and Melanie Mark, co-facilitated the focus groups…In recognition of the centrality of youth to this project, their recommendations open this document…The report then outlines various individual and systemic factors which commercially sexually exploited Aboriginal children and youth face. Historicizing social factors incumbent on Aboriginal children and youth explains their over-representation within the larger population of commercially sexually exploited people in Canada. The third part of the report outlines the youth perspective of abuse and exploitation, prevention, crisis intervention, harm reduction, exiting and healing, public attitudes, and youth participation.

Full Circle (2002) a manual for communities working with Aboriginal/Native youth in the sex trade Download the report here

The Urban Native Youth Association has been working with street involved sexually exploited youth for many years through our Two-spirited Youth Program, our Prevention/Outreach Team, our Aboriginal Safehouse, as well as periodically through our other programs….Current estimates in Vancouver indicate that approximately sixty percent of both female and male sexually exploited youth are Aboriginal…. With this in mind, UNYA decided to create a manual that would help the urban Aboriginal community and others move forward by identifying a continuum of care for sexually exploited and at-risk Aboriginal youth.

Moment for Boyz (2004) Download the report here

In February 2004, the McCreary Youth Foundation embarked on a literature review relating to the health issues of male youth. The purpose of this report is to report on that review; to provide specific information on boys involved in the sex trade; to outline an evidence base that would assist in identifying funding priorities for the Foundation’s Commercial Sexual Exploitation Project (CSEP), and to make a conscious effort to keep the issues of boys’ health on the broader youth agenda.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth: An epidemic of homelessness (2007) Download the report here

Of the estimated 1.6 million homeless American youth, between 20 and 40 percent identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT)…Through a comprehensive review of the available academic research and professional literature, we answer some basic questions, including why so many LGBT youth are becoming and remaining homeless. We report on the harassment and violence that many of these youth experience in the shelter system and we summarize research on critical problems affecting them, including mental health issues, substance abuse and risky sexual behavior. We also analyze the federal government’s response to youth homelessness, including the specific impact on LGBT homeless youth of increased federal funding for faith-based service providers.

Check back for more resources soon.