This past February, The Texas A&M University Public Policy Research Institute’s (PPRI) Texas Youth Action Network (TYAN) hosted a continuing education conference with curriculum centered on positive youth development and training for professionals working with youth from across the state of Texas. Through no-cost training and local coalition-building, TYAN is empowering youth-serving professionals across communities and preparing young Texans for lifelong success.

This week, the leadership of partnered non-profits and organizations from five localities across the state including, Austin, Brownsville, Bryan-College Station, Dallas, multiple participants from the Greater Houston Area, San Antonio and San Marcos attended training sessions and talks given by expert instructors in the areas of building healthy youth-adult partnerships, organizational development, leadership, and prevention strategies for barriers to success faced by youth.

“Our team with the Texas Youth Action Network employs the theory of Positive Youth Development to help strengthen organizations and their abilities to build successful youth-adult partnerships.’ Said, Dr. Emily Naiser, TYAN Program Director, PPRI Principal Investigator and Associate Research Scientist. Dr. Naiser has conducted several projects, predominantly in public health, using qualitative and quantitative analysis methods to ascertain program effectiveness and develop best practice recommendations to state-level policymakers, ‘These healthy youth-adult partnerships integrate the voices of youth in decision-making which allows them to better practice thinking like an adult. That is empowerment, and one of the greatest strategies we can teach in helping to prevent barriers to an individual’s success as they mature into citizens with real responsibility.”

Now in its seventh year, the Texas Youth Action Network is recognized as a national model providing comprehensive and authoritative support for organizations striving to empower youth. TYAN staff accomplish this mission through building a network of community partner cohorts that periodically attend facilitated adult education training sessions held both in-person and online throughout the year. Additionally, program leadership make concerted efforts to connect participating non-profits with grant funding opportunities.

Conference speakers included Derrick McKnight, Public Health Manager Austin Youth Development with the City of Austin, Para LaNell Agboga Truancy, Prevention Program Lead-Austin Youth Development with the City of Austin, Anthony Betori, Director, Curriculum & Innovation, Healthy Futures of Texas, keynote speaker, Alton “Tiger” Burton, Founder & Director of We Are HYPE (Helping Youth Pursue Excellence) and Community Outreach Coordinator with Brazos Valley Council on Alcohol and Substance Abuse (BVCASA), Angela Rice, Founder & Director of Bravissimo Ink., Out of the Mouth of B.A.B.E.S., Cristal Lopez with Community Action, Inc. of Central Texas, and Ronda Jackson, M.S., Research Specialist II, with PPRI.

“I enjoyed the session tremendously!’ Said, Fallon Presley-Armstrong, training attendee and Founder of the Wonder and Explore STEM Enrichment Program, ‘the event and curriculum provided further clarity that I’m in the right spot and at the right time. The inspiration shared provides motivation to work towards building on our organizational purpose with positive youth development and healthy youth-adult partnerships as added value; all needed and much appreciated.”

Other organizations represented this past week were the Alliance of Community Assistance Ministries (ACAM), Austin Youth Riverwatch, Community Action Core Four Partnership, Greater Houston Opportunity Youth Collaborative (GHOYC), Healthy Futures Texas (Brownsville), Intertwined, Raise Her Strong, Texans for Safe and Drug Free Youth, and Texas Youth Mental Health Network (Dallas and Houston Chapters).

The TYAN program’s inaugural leader, now PPRI Director, Dr. Dottie Carmichael notes “We are very proud of this program’s accomplishments. TYAN is a great example of PPRI’s mission to build up Texas communities, in this case by preparing our young people for success as the next generation of leaders.” In her 44 years at the university, Dr. Carmichael has led numerous research projects for state agencies focused on developing public policies that enhance opportunity, success, and well-being for the state and its citizens.

For more information about the Texas Youth Action Network and how to get involved, please visit tyan.tamu.edu.

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The Texas Youth Action Network (TYAN) is an initiative of the Texas Department of State Health Services (TDSHS) and guided by the leadership of the Texas A&M University Public Policy Research Institute (PPRI) operating as an authoritative source under the theory of Positive Youth Development, a philosophy that builds on strengths rather than categorizing youth by their deficits.