Youth Workers' Professional Development: The Importance of Youth Development Certificate Programs

Youth development has emerged as an important field within the study of human development in recent years. High-quality youth programs can foster positive development of children and adolescents and minimize the likelihood of youth developing problem behaviors. Based on youth programs’ task of promoting positive youth development, it is important to ensure the quality of these programs.  A core component of quality youth programming is having well‐trained and competent workers and one emerging method of training youth workers is through a certificate program. This report presents a comprehensive review of the literature regarding the links between youth outcomes, youth programs, youth workers, and the importance of youth development certificate programs, including a listing of six youth development certificate programs available to youth workers. Findings indicate there is need for a high-quality, evidence-based, and standardized youth development certificate program to help ensure the quality of professional development of youth workers, the youth programs where they work, and the outcomes for youth and families they serve. Recommendations are given based on the literature for future avenues of research and youth programming.