Have you downloaded the Youth Development Toolbox app yet? If you haven’t, GO DO IT RIGHT NOW. I’M SO SERIOUS. IT’S AMAZING. Here are the links:
This app is going to be your go-to resource for all kinds of practical, easy to implement activities and strategies in your Club. We’ve had some exciting updates recently that I want to share with you!
If you haven’t been on the app in a while, you will notice a couple of new sections! In addition to the YDPs, Supervisors, and Quick Tools categories, all filled with easy activities for everyone in your Club, we are proud to debut the YD Challenge, specifically designed for Club Directors to use to train your staff. More information will be coming soon, including some guidance videos, but go ahead and check them out! It is a great tool to use to introduce your staff to the app and guide them through the sections, while encouraging them to try new activities and then reflect as a group on what they have learned.
The ClubX Blog icon leads you right HERE! It is an easy way to keep up with all the great things we are posting on the blog. Don’t forget, you can also subscribe to receive all new posts by email at the bottom of this page.
Finally, the Social section of the blog is now live! You can sign up for a free account in the YDT Community to connect with your fellow youth development professionals. Right now, there are separate forums for Supervisors and YDPs. I’ve kicked things off with a Welcome thread in each- log in and tell us who you are and where you are from! I’m the keeper of the community keys, so you can bet I’ll be mining the forums for blog contributors and post ideas.
And there is a ton of new content in the YDPs, Supervisors, and Quick Tools sections as well! For the newbies, the YDPs section is designed for youth development professionals at your Club working directly with members, and the Supervisors section is organized the same way, but designed for those who supervise staff at a Club. The Quick Tools section is for everyone, and includes categories like Community Builders, Energizers, Attention Getters, and more.
Each category will give you a list of great ideas, and some even include videos! Monika Keenan, Unit Director at Boys & Girls Clubs of the Smoky Mountains, has already used Quick Tools out in the wild. She told me, “I have been around a long time and I used this app to keep a group busy until a bus arrived for a trip. It was a lifesaver!”
One more super important piece I want to share: If you click the three blue lines at the top left of the home screen, you will come to this menu. You can access all the features of the app through it, but do you see that envelope on the second page? Where it says “Contact Us”? That is where YOU can send us YOUR AMAZING IDEAS! And please do! We want to feature Club professionals from across the Movement, including written activities as well as video if you can. You can submit text through the app, or you can email us directly at ydtoolbox@bgca.org.
We are SO EXCITED about this app, and we hope that you will be too. We are busy bees over here writing more content and working on adding more features, so be sure to download the YDToolbox and check in with it periodically to see what is new.
What do you think? Have you already used the app? Tell me in the comments!
Absolutely love the app! A couple of links are down but it’s so incredibly useful. Thank you!
Thank you Sarah! Yes we are adding new content and sometimes it makes the old content go a bit wonky. :/ But we are working on it!
Is there a website that we can access the YD Toolbox information? The app takes up some coveted phone storage for my staff.
Yes! You can access the site at ydtoolbox.goodbarber.com. That address may change soon, but I’ll be sure to update it on all of the blog sites.