The Great Plains IDEA Youth Development master’s degree is designed to provide you with research-based skills and knowledge you can use with youth across multiple settings.

The Great Plains IDEA Youth Development Program has its roots in Positive Youth Development. Rather than focusing solely on corrective measures, a Positive Youth Development approach equips young people in the second decade of life with the skills and opportunities necessary for successful transition into adulthood. This approach promotes positive outcomes for all youth by recognizing their strengths, fostering positive relationships, and providing youth with opportunities to learn, lead, connect and serve.

Students in this program will:

• Understand, integrate, and be able to apply conceptual approaches to youth development
• Understand normative pathways to development
• Understand youth and family cultural issues/contexts and their micro- and macro-influences on positive youth outcomes
• Understand and apply basic research and evaluation skills to youth development programming through an applied project that serves as a capstone experience under the direction of the candidate's home institution
• Develop skills in problem-solving with "stakeholders" including funding sources, boards, other agencies, families and other professionals
• Demonstrate understanding of the development and impact of local, regional, state, federal, and global policies on youth and be able to advocate through policy development for optimal youth outcomes
• Be able to develop and apply resources (e.g., agency budgeting, grant writing and processing, fundraising) for successful implementation and management of youth-serving organizations
• Understand the history of the youth development area and advocate for the continued professionalization of the field

There are three people who help you with your program. There are two campus coordinators at UNL: Dr. Yan Ruth Xia is the academic coordinator and Lisa King is the campus logistics coordinator. Your campus advisor is the individual faculty member at UNL that gives you advice, monitors your progress, signs your MOC (your list of approved classes), and works with you on the additional 8 hours needed for the program.