Certificate in Youth Work Practice

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Put young people’s well-being at the center of your work.

Offered through Clark University’s Department of Sustainability and Social Justice (formerly IDCE), the unique professional youth work practice certification explores exciting, effective ways to engage young people in coordinated youth development and leadership programs. You can advance this evolving profession by learning from faculty and expert youth workers who are wholly dedicated to engaging with youth in our vibrant, urban Worcester community and beyond.

While contributing to the field, you learn the tools you need to build trust-filled, authentic, mutually respectful relationships with young people as well as how to design and manage youth development programs. You also gain experience working with different kinds of organizations that support young people’s social and emotional development, learning, and skill-building.

Why a Certificate in Youth Work Practice at Clark University

A youth work program that is entirely co-created with local youth workers designed for aspiring, junior-level, and experienced youth workers.
Can be completed in two semesters, with morning and online classes to accommodate youth workers’ schedules.
Earn a head start in your master’s program by applying 100% of your certificate course credits toward the full degree graduation requirements.
A culturally rich, diverse, international classroom community.
Curricula model that emphasizes the value of discussion and collaboration between practitioners.

The Essentials

Program Overview

The Youth Work Practice Certificate is open to anyone who is currently employed in youth work or who plans to enter the field, from practitioners in the Worcester community to those working at institutions around the country.

You can complete the program at whatever pace you choose, from a full-time schedule in just one semester to a flexible, part-time program.

Coursework

Sample Courses

Beyond the Classroom

Partnering with communities to face challenges with them, not simply for them, makes you an attractive candidate for a job conducting advanced work developing viable solutions that drive lasting results in the field.
Our faculty are directly engaged in youth work practice or research, and students join their efforts to create healthier communities. We understand the challenges facing youth, communities, and the organizations that support them are complex. You study these challenges in great depth and learn ways to address them, in order to bring about lasting change.

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REQUIREMENTS

3 Course Units

2 core courses
1 elective

Course Catalog

Specific skills you learn include:

Policy analysis and grant proposal writing.
Qualitative and quantitative research and analysis.
Forging partnerships with diverse communities.
Working effectively with community organizations.
Program and staff management.

In this program you learn to:

Identify and analyze community forces that positively and negatively affect young people and how to apply this analysis to youth work.
Respond to complex, ambiguous problems quickly and decisively.
Involve young people in the analysis of their environments.
Build programs driven by young people’s own goals.
Develop, run, manage, evaluate, and fund theoretically grounded youth development groups, programs, and organizations.

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