When expectations and supports don’t match a young person’s developmental readiness, conflict and disengagement often follow. This session focuses on translating developmental understanding into everyday practice. Staff examine how adult expectations, routines, and responses can either support or undermine youth development. Through reflection and real world examples, participants learn how to adjust interactions, structure, and support in ways that honor where youth are developmentally—without lowering standards or losing consistency.

Who knew a bathroom break could topple an entire program! We've seen more than a few youth programs self-combust during transitions alone. The culprit each time: the absence of creative planning for times between activities. Whether cleaning up from snack time, or migrating your group from inside to out – downtimes can quickly derail the best of the best, if you haven't planned for it. In this workshop, we share strategies and tools to ensure your students stay motivated and engaged, even in down-time. What we know for sure: when transitions are handled with forethought, and the same level of intentionality as core programming, adults relax, and children thrive.

Variety – the Children’s Charity, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting children with disabilities throughout the Delaware Valley, will lead this engaging and practical training on creating more inclusive Out-of-School Time (OST) environments. Participants will explore tools and techniques that can be easily incorporated into everyday programming to ensure all children feel welcomed, supported, and able to thrive.

We’re here to debunk the traditional notion of what leadership looks like. We define an ideal leader as: YOU AT YOUR ABSOLUTE BEST, whatever that looks like…and growing from there. Leadership is a process, not a destination. This on-point workshop helps identify and celebrate your unique blend of strengths (sometimes we call this your secret sauce!) and explores how to use them with intentionality in your work with youth.

Attendees will learn how to utilize and navigate Cityspan in order to accurately record youth enrollment, program activities, staff information, attendance, and more. There will be opportunities for attendees to ask questions to clarify the best way to use the system for individual program needs.

Caring for youth in communities impacted by violence takes heart, and it also takes a toll. This session centers staff wellness as an essential part of safety and prevention, not an afterthought. We’ll talk honestly about stress, burnout, and the emotional weight of the work, while exploring realistic ways to support staff and ourselves.

In this session participants will learn effective and positive ways to engage with OST participants who have different learning abilities. Participants will learn about the different types of learning abilities, and how they effect a students learning experience. This session will be facilitated by Variety, the Children’s Charity of Delaware County. Please be prepared to discuss challenges that you are currently facing at your OST site. 

To feel seen and acknowledged by adults is vital to the positive development of children. When young people feel valued and respected, they are much more likely to trust, which deepens any exchange. In this workshop, we explore the empowering skills of acknowledgment and validation (along with their opposites), examining the potential impact of each.

Ready to rethink how activities come together? Let’s dig into how starting with youth strengths—not just the agenda—can help staff support planning, flexibility, persistence, and decision making without falling into over direction. We’ll explore concrete ways to design experiences for youth and practice coaching conversations that help staff break activities into doable steps, offer real choices, and put supportive structure in place—supporting growth and development for youth and staff alike.