NYAR
2024 National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference
In 1990, the National Youth Advocacy and Resilience (NYAR) Conference, formerly known as the National Youth-At-Risk Conference, was founded by Georgia Southern University’s College of Education. The name change was adopted in 2021 and was encouraged by the youth the program serves. The Conference continues to provide prominent training for all individuals devoted to promoting and advancing the well-being of youth. For over 30 years, the conference continues to encourage the participation of educators at all levels including Therapists, Social Workers, Psychologists, Criminal Justice Professionals, Business and Community Leaders and Volunteer Service Providers.
Past conference speakers have included nationally and internationally recognized educators and youth advocates such as Geoffrey Canada, Ron Clark, Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Jim Brown, TV celebrity Judge Glenda Hatchett, and several National Teachers of the Year. In its 34th year, the conference has grown from a regional conference of 150 participants to a national conference of approximately 1400 participants and presenters from across the globe.
The 2024 NYAR Conference was held March 3-6th at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Savannah, Georgia. Keynote speakers included Dardi Hendershott, Co-founder of Hope 4 The Wounded, LLC and co-author of Supporting the Wounded Educator: A Trauma-Sensitive Approach to Self-Care, Manuel Scott, Ph.D., author and Freedom Writer, and Keith Brown, Principal Speaker and Lead Consultant.
Alisa Leckie, Assistant Dean for Partnerships and Outreach and Co-Chair of NYAR, expressed how the goals of the 2024 conference were to make it more personable for youth.
“NYAR 2024 was a resounding success. Participants left inspired and energized to continue doing the important work of supporting youth in our communities. It is a privilege to work with our presenters and participants each year,” she said.
Taylor Norman, Associate Professor of English Language Arts and Co-Chair of NYAR shared her experience on this year’s conference.
“This year’s conference, like so many in the past, created a proactive and productive space for our participants and attendees. I am honored to do this work, and inspired by the passion, purpose, and commitment embodied by our diverse and beautiful community,” she said.
The conference was a huge success with more than 200 presentations and over a thousand participants. Georgia Southern anticipates this number will continue growing and benefitting young people around the world and is excited for the future of our youth as we build on this success.
National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference serves 1,300 professionals
Georgia Southern University’s College of Education had near record-breaking attendance at the 34th annual National Youth Advocacy and Resilience (NYAR) Conference. The conference was at capacity with over 1,300 participants from across the U.S. attending sessions as presenters or audience members. The event was held March 5-8 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Savannah.
Conference co-chair, Alisa Leckie, Ph.D., Assistant Dean of Partnerships and Outreach, remarked, “As in past years, we had to create a waiting list given the continued demand for the conference and for information on how to best build resilience among our community’s youth. Although we wish we could have accommodated everyone who wanted to attend, we are heartened at how many people want to learn how to better support children and families.”
One of the University’s longest-running and largest conferences, the NYAR Conference provides professional development and evidence-based techniques to educators, social workers, counselors, school resource officers, administrators, psychologists, and others who work with and advocate for minors. This year’s four-day event featured more than 100 sessions that focused on the five domains of youth advocacy: Head (academics), Heart (social/emotional), Health (physical), Hand (safety), and Home (families).
New to this year’s conference were student presenters who talked about their advocacy work. Conference co-chair Taylor Norman, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Middle and Secondary Grades, says, “Ideally, we can continue to engage those who most benefit from the work, the students/children themselves, to show advocacy professionals what an impact they make.”
For more information, the NYAR Conference program is available online at https://academics.georgiasouthern.edu/ce/conferences/nyar/
Leckie and Norman encourage those interested in attending future NYAR Conferences to register early. Registration for the 2024 conference opens in October.
National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Research Center awards seed grants for faculty research in support of local youth advocacy and resiliency
The University’s National Youth Advocacy and Resilience (NYAR) Research Center, which promotes scholarly and collaborative research with community partners to assist young people in overcoming conditions that may threaten their safety, health, emotional needs or intellectual development, recently awarded three seed grants to faculty for research that support youth advocacy and resiliency. Read the full story.
Georgia Southern University College of Education hosts 34th annual National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference, March 5-8.
The conference brings together more than 1,200 professionals in education, social work, law enforcement, counseling and other child and family advocacy entities from around the country for quality, relevant training to better serve youth.
“This year’s NYAR conference is sure to be inspiring, rejuvenating and full of practical strategies to support youth and the adults who serve them,” said Alisa Leckie, Ph.D., Georgia Southern associate professor of English Learner Education and NYAR co-chair. “With nearly 100 sessions across the five strands — home, health, heart, head and hand — educators, counselors, social workers, school safety officers and law enforcement will be able to learn from and connect with colleagues from across the country.” Read the full story here.
Co-directors begin roles for Georgia Southern University’s new youth research center
This month, Juliann Sergi McBrayer, Ed.D., and Chad Posick, Ph.D., assume their roles as the co-directors of Georgia Southern University’s National Youth Resilience and Advocacy (NYAR) Research Center. Announced last fall, the NYAR Research Center, housed in the College of Education (COE), serves as an interdisciplinary research center to develop evidence-based practices supporting educators, community partners, university professors and other adults impacting youth.
McBrayer and Posick are focused on the development and implementation of the Center’s strategic plan.
Posick is an associate professor of criminal justice and criminology in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences. His research focuses on the causes and consequences of victimization, and the prevention of violence. He teaches courses on family violence, crime and public policy and statistics. Posick is an executive board member and vice president of Child Advocacy Services (CASA) of the Ogeechee Circuit in Georgia and member of the national Scholars Strategy Network that promotes the translation of research to policy.
“This Center provides an opportunity to seek out funding and collaborations to conduct public impact research that will improve the community,” said Posick. “I am looking forward to working with a diverse set of individuals across a variety of academic disciplines to improve the health and well-being of our families, schools and communities.”
“I believe that my experiences have set me up well to help establish and grow the NYAR Research Center, and continuing important work on the health and well-being of youth, and their families, schools and communities through a coordinated, interdisciplinary research center is exactly in line with my passion and career goals,” said Posick.
McBrayer is an associate professor in the COE. She has served more than 20 years in the educational career field in roles including: educational leadership associate and assistant professor, educational program coordinator, instructional school leader, professional development and federal programs coordinator, classroom teacher and teacher leader. As a scholarly practitioner, her research interests include the development, implementation and assessment of educational leadership and teacher preparation programs. These programs focus on purposeful, collaborative and sustainable professional learning and programming to ensure effectiveness and accountability while emphasizing community partnerships.
“From my inception here at Georgia Southern as a scholarly practitioner researcher, my focus has been on securing grant funding to support our rural community and interdisciplinary partnerships, and to promote school climate with a focus on school safety, racial equity, resiliency and advocacy,” said McBrayer. “I am dedicated to positively impacting the academic, social and emotional well-being of youth and will lead with the of Five H’s of ‘Head, Heart, Hands, Health and Home’ approach as my mission as an educator for over 20 years has been that my students are my everything. Educating them in an environment most conducive to learning is not only a goal but the number one reason I do what I do in higher education and in the educational arena.”
About the Center
The NYAR Research Center was created out of the desire to continue and expand on the work of the College of Education’s National Youth Advocacy and Resilience (NYAR) Conference (formerly the National Youth-at-Risk Conference). For more than 30 years, the NYAR Conference has served as an epicenter of information sharing and advancement for the support of youth facing challenges across the nation.
Co-chairs of the NYAR Conference and COE faculty members Alisa Leckie, Ph.D., and Taylor Norman, Ph.D., initiated the proposal for the Center and brought together a group of faculty and administrators from multiple colleges at Georgia Southern to support leading, interdisciplinary research that will have the greatest impact on youth advocacy and resilience.
With interdisciplinary support from the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Waters College of Health Professions, Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health and College of Arts and Humanities, the NYAR Research Center will officially begin research and grant-writing projects to develop evidence-based practices to support youth as early as Spring 2022.