MyCom Announces Professional Development Release Date

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: KASEY MORGAN, CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER, MYCOM

PHONE: 216-399-2271

EMAIL: info@mycomcle.org

DATE: October 23, 2023

Cleveland, Ohio. MyCom announced a release date for their 2024 professional development courses for professionals working in positive youth development fields.

“Life-long learning is critical to our role as the intermediary for youth development across Greater Cleveland. In response to feedback we have been given at the grassroots, local, and statewide levels, MyCom will host courses capable of meeting the needs of professionals in our field,” said Kasey Morgan, MyCom's Chief Strategy Officer.

Courses are designed to support the following levels of knowledge:

• Fundamental Awareness: Courses that provide essential knowledge for professionals with little knowledge of the topic.
• Novice: Courses targeted at professionals with limited experience with the topic.
• Intermediate: Courses targeted at professionals with knowledge but are designed to demonstrate practical applications of concepts.
• Advanced: Courses designed to examine an applied theory for professionals in youth development.
• Expert: Courses conducted for recognized authorities on specific fields of youth development.

Since the beginning of MyCom, professional development has been a critical tenet of MyCom. During the Pandemic, MyCom hosted training for front-line workers and MyCom regional coordinators across various topics ranging from work/life balance to program design and evaluation.

Post-pandemic training has continued to be requested from the over 280 network partners as professionals are working with children and young adults who still demonstrate ripple effects from the trauma of the Pandemic.

“Professionals from our network and across the State of Ohio are looking for ways to manage their front-line talent and support their development while staying apprised of evidence-based practices in youth development. We want to help them provide the best programs and services to our children and young adults as possible,” said Michael Copeland, MyCom’s Chief of Staff.

MyCom has conducted the professional development opportunities in partnership with their lead agency for Out of School Time, Starting Point, and other community agencies, including the Cuyahoga County Youth Work Institute and the Urban League of Greater Cleveland.

For 2024, MyCom will host courses designed to respond to the needs of the network and built for the variety of experience and skills of the agencies' professionals.

The upcoming courses will include sessions such as:

• Fundamental Awareness:
  • Mental Health Care for Participants
  • Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) Introduction
• Novice:
  • Program Design & Budgeting
  • Retaining Youth Development Staff
• Intermediate:
  • Good to Great for the Social Sector: Practical Applications
  • Summer Programming & Fund Development
• Advanced:
  • Peer-to-Peer Challenge Solving
  • Conducting a Neighborhood Assessment
• Expert:
  • Moving a Needle: Assessing Broad Youth Development Benchmarks to Establish a Baseline
  • Creating Entrepreneurial Career Pathways within a Continuum for Future Workers

The entire course catalog will be available November 1, 2024.