Strong professional development enhances afterschool programs by building staff capacity to design and lead engaging learning opportunities. It also can contribute to increased staff satisfaction and retention. When professional development activities are intentionally aligned to program goals and staff members' needs, it can drive program quality, continuous improvement, and intentional planning.

The topics covered by professional development are vast. We focus on four particularly relevant areas:

• Foundational Youth Development Trainings

• Social and Emotional Learning

• Facilitating Distance Learning

• Lesson Plan and Activity Ideas

The afterschool field is built on the the philosophy and best practices of Positive Youth Development (PYD). In a nutshell, PYD is an age-sensitive approach to working with youth and guides the ways in which strong relationships are developed, learning is supported, and safe and supportive environments are designed.

The trainings and resources below will help afterschool professionals understand and apply PYD.

• Transforming Education provides a vast list of resources, from educator mini-modules to downloadable toolkits. They also have a variety of focus areas, including SEL integration in academics, educator support and reflection, daily activities, etc.

• You4Youth shares technical assistance specifically for 21st Century Community Learning Centers. In this 4-part series trainers share information on planning, designing, implementing, and assessing SEL programs.

• Landmark School provides resources on working with students with disabilities, and additionally has brief and informative instructional guides with specific strategies for implementing SEL in any classroom.

• The ACT for Youth at Cornell University provides research-based applied techniques for implementing social and emotional learning in their SEL Toolkit.

• BloomBoard's Master Teacher Micro-Credential Program is a master's level paid course that offers credentialing opportunities on a variety of topics, such as SEL, early learning, project based learning, and more.