Institute for Youth Success

Institute for Youth Success

For nonprofits and community-based organizations serving youth, we provide professional development and a wide range of capacity-building support through the Institute for Youth Success at Education Northwest. Services include training and technical assistance, research, and consultation for mentoring, tutoring, and out-of-school time programs.

Supporting Programs That Serve Youth

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Playing a vital role in supporting youth programs, the Institute for Youth Success (IYS)―originally Oregon Mentors―was started in 2001 by leaders within the business community and merged with Education Northwest in 2015. With a mission to empower youth organizations to improve outcomes and reduce social costs, IYS supports more than 190 youth programs, including camps, sports, STEM, leadership, afterschool, independent living, and mentoring programs. In addition to providing professional development to volunteers and staff of youth programs, IYS provides relevant, evidence-based information on topics ranging from recruitment to program management and offers services that create efficiencies and make youth-development programs stronger.

We believe that young people win when schools are deeply connected to community-based youth-serving nonprofits.
—Institute for Youth Success at Education Northwest Director Celeste Janssen

  • Youth Work Methods Trainings

    Training Your Staff on Youth-Development Fundamentals The Institute for Youth Success offers 10 workshops that empower direct-service staff with tools to increase the quality of their work. These...

  • Technical Assistance for Mentoring Programs

    Helping Youth Programs Improve Mentoring The Institute for Youth Success (IYS) at Education Northwest is a national leader in providing assistance to new and developed mentoring programs. We can help...

  • SAFE Training: Screening Youth Program Volunteers

    With more than 80 million children having some kind of contact with nearly 35 million adults through volunteer and youth-serving programs each year — and with the increase in the number of articles...

  • Improving STEM Best Practices for Mentoring Programs

    Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math = STEM The Institute for Youth Success (IYS) at Education Northwest works with STEM programs to put the "R" in STEM... relationships! We know that adults...

  • IYS Trainings for Youth Serving Programs

    Building Stronger Youth Programs Through Training and Technical Assistance The Institute for Youth Success (IYS) at Education Northwest trains staff members and volunteers at nonprofits, churches,...

  • Coaching, Change, and Assessment Workshops for Managers

    The Institute for Youth Success offers two workshops that support managers with data-informed program improvement. These trainings were designed by the David P. Weikart Center for Youth Program...
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    Exploring Youth Voice and Youth-Adult Partnership

    An effective and evidence-based way to improve schools, nonprofits, and government agencies is to make decisions in partnership with those being served. This six-page resource provides an overview and tips for educators and youth workers.
  • SEL booklet

    Understanding and Cultivating Social Emotional Learning

    Want to learn the basics of social and emotional learning? Download this primer to learn concepts you can use to help students develop “nonacademic skills” and reach their full potential.
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    National Collaborative Webinar Series for Mentoring Programs

    The Institute for Youth Success (IYS) at Education Northwest is a a lead organizer of the National Collaborative Webinar Series . Each month, we partner with MENTOR: The National...
  • two students and a mentor arm in arm

    Podcasts for Mentoring and Youth Development Programs

    The Institute for Youth Success (IYS) has been supporting youth programs since our inception as the Oregon Mentoring Initiative in 2002. Today, as part of Education Northwest, we...
  • Photo of Karen Pittman

    Youth Worker Symposium 2015

    On October 15, 2015 youth development staff from across Oregon attended a Youth Worker Symposium in Portland, Oregon hosted by the Institute for Youth Success at Education...

Contact

Portrait of Celeste Janssen

Celeste Janssen
Director

Celeste leads the Institute for Youth Success at Education Northwest, a full-service, innovative regional center to support best practices at youth serving organizations.

IYS Newsletter