Training & Capacity Building

Health Resources in Action's Training and Capacity Building department is widely recognized for its youth development approach, which recognizes and builds on young people's assets and strengths. HRiA builds healthy communities by increasing the capacities of youth and the adults who work with them - organizations, networks, schools and systems - through training, facilitation and consultative services. Some of HRiA's areas of expertise include, but are not limited to those listed below.

Trainings

• Youth Development
• Peer Leadership
• Supporting and Supervising Staff
• Gender Sensitivity
• Violence, Tobacco, Substance Abuse and STD Prevention
• Tutor Training
• Youth-Adult Collaboration

Facilitation

• Meetings
• Strategic Planning processes
• Retreats

Consultative Services

• Coalition Building
• Organizational Development
• Project Management
• Working with Boards and Committees
• Volunteer Recruitment and Management

HRiA is also home to three training programs that promote youth and leadership development.

The BEST Initiative
The BEST Initiative (Building Exemplary Systems for Training) is a national training program for youth work professionals. BEST's' certificate programs are grounded in the youth development approach. Topics include youth worker certification, supervision, mental health, gender specific development and general youth work.

The 84
The 84 is a statewide, youth tobacco prevention movement funded by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Through this program, Training and Capacity Building, in collaboration with Health Communication Services, distributes youth mini-grants that promote local activism and policy change, coordinates statewide gatherings and contests, provides trainings, and manages an interactive web site specifically for young people, The 84. The site actively engages 84% of youth in Massachusetts who do not use tobacco and aims to push that number higher!

Peer Leadership Training Programs
Peer leaders are young people who commit to working toward increased health and safety for other youth within their community. TCB has provided Peer Leadership Training for hundreds of youth programs in the Boston area. These trainings typically focus on public health topics such as preventing tobacco use or violence, and help youth build leadership and outreach skills as well as personal confidence.

In addition to training peer leaders, TCB also coordinates its own peer leadership program called Healthy Girls, Healthy Women. The young women who participate in this program are trained as peer leaders to promote positive nutritional and physical activity habits for girls living in Boston neighborhoods with high rates of obesity. They also focus on building healthy relationships and positive body image.