About Youth Cafés:
Youth Café is a program under the Kentucky Strengthening Families Initiative that encourages young people to grow and build relationships with others through discussions around Protective Factors. This is an opportunity for young people to learn from each other in a fun and supportive atmosphere utilizing conversation card decks that center around Protective Factors. The conversation decks used during a Youth Café were created by young people for young people to help connect the Protective Factors to practice in everyday life.
The Youth Café model is a research-based and nationally recognized framework designed to empower youth to engage in discussions with other youth to become more resilient by building their own Protective Factors. The Kentucky Strengthening Families Initiative offers a Youth Café Training of Trainers model for others to learn how to facilitate Youth Cafés in their local community. Training participants will have an opportunity to participate in a mock Youth Café experience led by the Kentucky Strengthening Families Initiative trainers. Participants will learn how to plan for and facilitate a Youth Café through the use of the Guiding Premises and incorporating the Protective Factors into the Youth Café Model.
Anyone who is implementing Youth Cafés with the goal of helping young people build leadership, and Protective Factors should ensure that their Youth Cafés meet the following criteria for greatest likelihood of success.
What do Youth Cafés provide young people?:
Grow stronger and become more resilient by identifying their strengths, needs and challenges.
Build relationships with others.
Learn about resources that will support them.
Build Protective Factors in young people.
Build leadership skills in young people.
Youth Cafés bring young people together to increase youth confidence, increase resilience, build Protective Factors, and build positive relationships with others.
Young people are the participants at Youth Cafés.
The majority of the Café Table Hosts are youth leaders.
Youth Café themes and the review of a Protective Factor are thought provoking and appropriate for young people.
Youth Café theme and the review of the Protective Factor are:
Strength-based.
Decided by youth leaders.
Youth Cafés are scheduled and structured to allow the space and time for meaningful conversations.
Each Youth Café lasts at least 60 minutes, with at least 10 minutes for each round of conversation.
All aspects of Youth Café planning, communication and hosting are strength-based and involve young people as leaders.
Participants and organizers communicate with equality and respect.
Everyone is an expert (on their own experience) and everyone’s voice counts.
Diverse perspectives are welcomed and honored.
All contributions to making a Youth Café successful are valued, recognized and honored.
Youth Cafés are safe places – both emotionally and physically – and safety is intentionally created and maintained by the group.
Youth Cafés are hosted in environments that feel safe and welcoming.
Café Agreements are in place and discussed multiple times throughout a Youth Café.
Youth Café Facilitator and Youth Table Hosts know what to do if conversations become challenging.
Youth Cafés are built around meaningful conversations in small groups among young people who may or may not know each other well.
Five young people participate in conversations at each table.
Young people are encouraged to mix into different groups for each round of conversation and to have conversations with people they don’t know well.
Everyone hosting Youth Cafés are prepared.
Youth Café Facilitators and Youth Table Hosts have all received training from the Kentucky Strengthening Families Initiative State Team.
Youth Cafés intentionally build young people’s Protective Factors.
Questions directly or indirectly address the Protective Factors.
Youth Café Facilitators and Youth Table Hosts receive training on Protective Factors.
Youth Cafés are linked to other Protective Factors building efforts.
This table was altered based off the Center for the Study for Social Policy (CSSP) table for Parent Cafés. https://cssp.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/CAFE-OVERVIEW-2015.pdf