Opportunity In Practice

Behavior Is Communication: SEL, Trauma-Informed Care, and What Youth Are Really Telling You

When a young person shuts down, acts out, or stops showing up — what are they actually communicating? In this episode, Dr. Iris Bond-Gill is joined by Opportunity Consulting Associate Annie Crooks to unpack two frameworks that change how youth-serving practitioners see and respond to the young people in their programs. They break down Social-Emotional Learning, the five core competencies every young person needs to show up at work and in life, and Trauma-Informed Care, the lens that helps providers understand what’s getting in the way. With nearly half of DC youth having experienced at least one Adverse Childhood Experience, the stakes couldn’t be higher. Tune in to learn how to move from reacting to understanding, and what it really takes to build a program where young people can thrive. Learn more about Opportunity Consulting at: www.opportunityconsulting.com [www.opportunityconsulting.com]

Designing for Impact — Why Intentional Program Design Changes Everything

In the first episode of Opportunity in Practice, Dr. Iris Bond Gill tackles one of the most overlooked drivers of program quality: design. Drawing on her work with DC youth providers through a new capacity-building initiative with the DC Department of Employment Services, Iris breaks down why the outcomes we see in our programs — good and bad — are never random. They’re the product of how those programs were designed. In this episode, you’ll learn: ∙ Why strong program design starts with youth outcomes — not activities ∙ How the Positive Youth Development framework’s 6Cs help practitioners define what meaningful impact actually looks like ∙ How to use a logic model to connect what your program does to the change you want to see in young people ∙ How a new tool — the PYD-Integrated Logic Model — brings these two frameworks together in one practical, actionable resource Whether you’re designing a new program from scratch, refining one that’s already running, or trying to tell a stronger story about your work to funders and partners, this episode will give you a framework you can apply right away.