Finding affordable, effective staff development opportunities for afterschool and out-of-school youth program staff is a creative challenge. But training is like car insurance—a youth-serving organization can't afford not to have it.

Untrained, inexperienced staff and volunteers will struggle and may ultimately fail to deliver good programs. Working with children in an afterschool program or out-of-school program can be a tremendously isolating experience. Every day staff and volunteers grapple with hundreds of decisions about how to interact with children, respond to changing needs and situations, and create and run program activities.

There are many obstacles to face when considering how to find, select, make the time for, and pay for, staff development opportunities for youth program staff. Most programs operate on shoestring budgets that provide few or no resources for training, courses, conferences, retreats or other forms of staff development. There is a scarcity of professional development providers, models and materials for afterschool and out-of-school programs. When training or other staff development opportunities are available, many organizations find it difficult to release staff from their day-to-day responsibilities.

Youth serving organizations should investigate a variety of staff development options for their full time and part time staff and volunteers. The following resources provide a helpful start in finding training and learning opportunities.