Reframing Developmental Relationships

A set of tools organizations can use to reframe communications around developmental relationships and move toward becoming a relationship-rich organization.

Reframing Developmental Relationships is a set of tools that used together can help organizations continue their journey toward prioritizing and deepening the developmental relationships that all young people need to grow and thrive.

Virtually everyone in education and youth work agrees that relationships are vital. Yet as a society and in communities we continually underinvest in and even undermine developmental relationships — especially when it comes to young people from marginalized communities who most need and want them.

Relational Practice

Reframing Developmental Relationships

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Resource Audience

Adults Youth Program Leaders Teachers School / Youth Organization Leaders

Resource Type

Relational Practice Report / Brief

Read Time

Over an Hour

Three Tools for Reframing Developmental Relationships

: This report is the result of a two-year study from FrameWorks Institute. It calls for “a profoundly different orientation toward relationships and—specifically—how our society should approach them collectively, through policies and programs.” It outlines seven tested recommendations for communicating developmental relationships in a way that moves the public beyond preconceptions of relationships toward new, broader understandings of—and investments in—the kinds of relationships young people need to thrive.

Download Report here

: This qualitative study looks at the communication challenges that emerge in the gap between researchers’ understanding of developmental relationships and public understandings of relationships in young people’s lives.

Download Report here

: This toolkit provides guidance for communicators on what points to emphasize and what to leave unsaid — for experts, advocates, and practitioners to make an effective case for investing in relationships.
Find the toolkit here

Related Resources for School and Youth Program Staff

Report / Brief

Developmental Relationships Framework

The developmental relationships framework identifies five strategies to strengthen and deepen the relationships that help young people grow and thrive.