The Graduate Certificate in Youth Development is designed to prepare youth professionals to equip individuals in the second decade of life with the skills necessary for a successful transition into adulthood. The target audience is professionals who are either working directly with adolescents and young adults or are involved in education and research related to youth. This certificate is available only through enrollment in Great Plains IDEA. The program addresses the need for advanced education in youth issues and does so through a strengths-based curriculum and requires one foundations course and four electives from among the following topics:

• Adolescents and Their Families
• Community Youth Development
• Contemporary Youth Issues
• Youth in Cultural Contexts
• Youth Development
• Youth Policy