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Youth Development


Dale A. Blyth

Extension professor, School of Social Work and director of the Youth Work Insitute

Current work, research and interests

Dale Blyth PhotoDale Blyth provides leadership for the Youth Work Institute, a joint venture of Extension and the College of Education and Human Development. These efforts are focused on making a measurable difference in the quality, availability, and impact of nonformal community learning opportunities for Minnesota young people. The Youth Work Institute reaches more than 4000 youth workers with exceptional non-credit educational experiences, and applied research and evaluation efforts that bridge research, practice, programs, policy, and public understanding. He also uses his diverse background in university, non-profit, and policy work to help build the field of youth development. He is currently examining new pathways to improve impact of youth programs through aligning different types of accountability, different perspectives and implications of extending learning time versus expanding learning approaches, the role of intermediary organizations in transforming community approaches to the quality, accessibility and impact of community learning opportunities and the role of larger policy frameworks and tools for effective, long-term changes in children and youth outcomes.

In 2004-2005 Dale served as chief of staff for the university president's Minnesota Commission on Out of School Time and its report "Journeys into Community: Transforming Youth Opportunities for Learning and Development." Working in collaboration with four legislative co-chairs, he helped found and support the bipartisan, bicameral Children and Youth Legislative Caucus. He is also a founding member and hosts the national Next Generation Youth Work Coalition, which is dedicated to developing the workforce of youth workers. He is a member of Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak's Youth Violence Prevention Executive Committee, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman's 2Nd Shift Commission, the Greater Twin Cities United Way Education Committee, the Board of Youthprise, and the Hennepin County A GRAD Oversight Committee.

 

Academic degrees and experience

 

Selected publications

Blyth, D., (2011). The Future of Youth Development: Multiple wisdoms, alternate pathways, aligned accountabilities. Journal of Youth Development. Volume 6, Number 3, Fall 2011.

Lochner, A., Allen, G., and Blyth, D. (2009). Exploring the Supply and Demand for Community Learning Opportunities in Minnesota: A Survey of Minnesota parents and Youth.

Blyth, D., (2006). Toward a new paradigm for youth development. In Rethinking Programs for Youth in the Middle Years. Special Issue of New Directions in Youth Development, co-edited by Dale Blyth and Joyce Walker, Number 112, Winter 2006. Jossey-Bass Publisher.

Walker, J., Marczak, M., Blyth, D. A., & Borden, L., (2005). Designing intentional youth programs: Toward a theory of developmental intentionality. In J. Mahoney, R. Larson, & J. Eccles (eds.), Organized activities as contexts for development: extracurricular activities, after-school and community programs. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum]]

Bruininks, R., Swan, C., Yussen, S., Jones, R., Fogelman, E., Boyte, H., Blyth, D., Solheim, C., Engelmann, S., Wahlstrom, B., Bloomfield, V., (2004.) Renewing the Land Grant Promise: Advancing Civic Engagement and Service-Learning at the University of Minnesota. In Langseth, M., (ed). Contributions to Public Work and the Academy: An Academic Administrator’s Guide to Civic Engagement And Service-Learning

Blyth, D., & Marczak, M., (2001, Summer). Minnesota Alliance With Youth: Reflections and Analysis of the Journey. The Center: America’s Promise Special issue. A publication of the University of Minnesota Extension Service.

 

Contact

blyth004@umn.edu
1-612-624-2188
University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus

 


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