Youth Leadership Coaching Matters: Developing At-Risk Youth: The Introduction of the Herbin Youth Leadership Coaching Concept (HYLC2

Youth Leadership Coaching Matters: Developing At-Risk Youth: The Introduction of the Herbin Youth Leadership Coaching Concept (HYLC²)

Serelda Herbin | 2016

Abstract

Normal–what does normal look like to an at-risk child in an underserved community? Normal. When one’s normal standards of life fall below the acceptable societal level, crime is created, unwed mothers are multiplied, and success in life is substandard or never achieved. Further, goals and dreams of at-risk youth in these environments are negatively altered (Walsh D., 2008). Luckily, for the little girl who set the tone of this paper, she did not take any of those routes and ended up with a much more successful life, which brings me to the purpose of this paper. This paper uncovers at-risk youth, what makes them at-risk, ways to help at-risk youth, ways to groom and develop at-risk youth into leaders, and how the concept of coaching at-risk youth can lend to their development. Secondly, this paper introduces a coaching concept, my brainchild developed through research, experience, and findings, known as the Herbin Youth Leadership Coaching Concept (HYLC²). I have created this concept specifically to target at-risk youth in order for them to better understand who they are, where they are in life, where they are going, and effective ways to get there. The HYLC²is based on the rationale that underserved youth are not receiving that dedicated time needed to be developed as upstanding citizens. It is designed to stand in the gap of those children who need just a little more tender loving care and motivation to excel. Studies have shown that exposure to disadvantaged neighborhoods has a much greater negative impact on the chances a child will graduate from high school than earlier research has suggested (Fowler, 2011). What does all of this have to do with the leadership training? It has much to do with this training concept because if the family life is not stable, with positive leadership within the family unit itself, those who are a part of the family unit will not be stable; the motivation to succeed will be limited or even non-existent.