Courses in the City: Community Youth Development

Professor Tina Kruse
City partners: Urban Arts Academy; Cycles for Change; Youth Farm; Children’s Hospital; the Minnesota Children’s Museum, and more.

Course Description
Brofenbrenner’s bioecological model of human development suggests the critical importance of social contexts besides the classroom in supporting the healthy development of children and youth from diverse social and economic backgrounds. This course examines the multiple systems affecting the developmental process through course readings, meetings, and assignments, grounded in a field placement of the student’s choosing. Appropriate field placements will engage students in a variety of youth development capacities, including centers for research and program development, social service organizations, and agencies aimed at improving youth-oriented social policy.

What do you hope students will learn?
“I hope students recognize the power of community-based settings for promoting the healthy development of all young people.”

What projects are you doing in the city?
“This course features an in-depth field placement with a community partner chosen by each student. Our students work within local youth organizations focused on art, farming, science, baking, biking, woodwork, creative writing, athletics, and homework help, among other goals. This semester, students who have returned to their home states and countries and can’t continue with their community partners are pivoting to instead support St. Paul’s Out-of-School-Time network (known as Sprockets). In this collaborative project, they are gathering and vetting resources to be shared with local youth program directors. While the youth programs rapidly pivot to find remote options for connecting with youth and communities, our students are building an infrastructure of support for them to turn to. It’s not what we expected for your community work this semester, but it’s a meaningful contribution that addresses a new and timely need!”

Nita Senesathith ’21 (Vientiane, Laos)
Psychology major

“I volunteered at the Children’s Hospital in St. Paul. I saw all the areas of the hospital, but mostly I was in NICU holding babies! In class, I came up with a hypothetical youth program for my home country of Laos. Girls in rural areas receive sexual and reproductive health education and make and sell reusable pads. This helps increase school attendance, reduce stigma for having periods, reduce environmental impacts of pads, and develop entrepreneurship in the community. We have to understand the circumstances that youth are in to fully help them develop.” 

Katie Hunter ’20 (Des Moines, Iowa)
Educational Studies and Spanish double major

“At Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio (CLUES) in Minneapolis, I work with 3-to 5-year-olds in the early education program. We work on literacy skills (in Spanish and in English), and crafts. Movement is important for preschoolers. I have incorporated stretching and dance into our time together to help them re-focus before doing more sedentary activities like reading or painting. Also, I have enjoyed getting to know the area CLUES is located in and am now more familiar with Lake Street and the Phillips neighborhood.” 

Nita Senesathith ’21 is a Macalester Davis United World College Scholar.