"What If ...?" Podcast
What If …?
What if we don’t just see the needs in our communities, but instead see where there are already strengths? What if we don’t just do work for young people, but partner together on work that impacts them? What if we change the paradigm? This podcast created by Youth Collaboratory asks the question "What if.." and explores how the answers to our questions impact the youth service field.
Season 1
Starting in 2014, Youth Collaboratory partnered with researchers from the mentoring field to ask the question - what if? With funding from OJJDP, we pulled what we knew about positive youth development and what we knew about mentoring and brought it together in a model using strength-based practices to guide how programs serve youth and families impacted by incarceration. In season 1 of the What If…? Podcast we dive into the practices and strategies we used in partnership with 20 mentoring programs from across the country and what we ALL learned through the work.
Season 2
As we continue into season two of the What If…? Podcast, we explore a few new questions:
- What if we talked to each other regularly about human trafficking and centered community in the process?
- What if we were able to end human trafficking by being in community with one another?
In this two-episode season, the panel discussion will:
- Refresh our understanding of what exactly human trafficking is;
- Challenge us to actively center community building and functioning in human trafficking prevention, intervention, and awareness;
- Increase our understanding of the inter-connectedness of ending human trafficking and building community;
- Bring greater awareness of how human trafficking negatively impacts the community and everyone in it; and,
- Inspire new ideas in us as we hold healthy conversations around ending human trafficking in our communities.
Special Feature: Starting a Program for Youth Impacted by CSEC
Wondering what it takes to launch a successful mentoring program for youth impacted by commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC)? In this special feature podcast episode, local, and national experts share strategies and lessons learned in program development, including screening, training, and supporting mentors to ensure that youth experience healthy relationships with caring adults. Youth Collaboratory, in partnership with the Center for Combatting Human Trafficking at Wichita State University, with support from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), created this podcast to highlight the restorative power of mentoring for youth impacted by CSEC.
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This podcast is partially supported by Grant # 2017-MC-FX-K051 awarded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. The opinions, findings, conclusions, expressed in the podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Justice.
