During the Summer 2026 retreat hybrid cohort members learn from VCU da Vinci Center staff to create a practice-based, community-centered applied learning experience using the Shelfie Program as the structure for their capstone presentation. The VCU Mary and Frances Youth Center is excited to partner with the da Vinci Center to recreate and adapt the Shelfie Program as a replicable model for youth program development and planning. This partnership will leverage Shelfie’s experimental framework to support the creation of responsive, youth-centered programming that values creativity, adaptability, and collaborative learning.

The Shelfie Program, housed within the VCU da Vinci Center’s Shift Retail Lab, functions as a creative testing ground for early-stage ideas, prototypes, and emerging programs. Designed intentionally as a learning-by-doing environment, Shelfie prioritizes exploration over perfection, encouraging experimentation, iteration, and the incorporation of meaningful feedback rather than the pursuit of fully polished outcomes. This approach allows participants to test concepts in real time, learn from both successes and failures, and refine ideas through hands-on engagement.

Using the Shelfie language and model, cohort members will design, prototype, and pitch youth program concepts that directly respond to the lived experiences, assets, and needs of youth and communities in which they serve. A final capstone presentation will be delivered by cohort members to their own site administrators, staff and home community.

By embedding design thinking, innovation, and rapid prototyping into youth development program creation, the VCU daVinci Center Shelfie curriculum strengthens the capstone experience and offers graduates an additional VCU credential to be earned alongside the VCU Advanced Certificate in Youth Development Management certificate award.

Shelfie Workshop include: (Descriptions of workshops may be found here)

Introduction to Design Thinking

Introduction to Business Model Canvas

Introduction to Pitching and Storytelling

Introduction to Prototyping

Hybrid cohort members will use the Shelfie process as well as the Virginia Partnership In Out of School Time (VPOST) Quality Standards to design or reimagine a youth program, initiative, or curriculum while applying design thinking tools to better understand the needs of youth and their communities. Through this process, participants will prototype solutions that address challenges such as engagement, access, leadership development, and connectivity, test assumptions through feedback and iteration, and translate innovation into practical youth development strategies. By doing so, cohort members will address real-world challenges through creative approaches that are rooted in and shaped by the community itself.

Before the completion of the certificate program each hybrid cohort member is asked to design and deliver a thirty minute professional presentation at their youth program site, focused on one or more topics explored during the certificate program and informed by their Shelfie experience. Presentations must:

• Reflect themes commonly discussed during certificate facilitations.
• Ground the narrative in local context (assets, challenges, and opportunities for youth, families, and partners).
• Highlight relevant program statistics and experiences from your community/setting in a natural, credible way.
• Respond with a restorative lens.

Completed presentations include an outline or slide deck, a brief written reflection that describes the topic, intended audience, and community context, and documentation verifying that the presentation was delivered. Capstone projects must be completed prior to graduation and are required for certificate completion.

The VCU Advanced Certificate in Youth Development Management graduation ceremony will be held in August in Richmond, Virginia. Members of the Richmond cohort and the hybrid cohort are invited and encouraged to attend.

Additional opportunities are being developed for graduates of the certificate program to build clear pathways back into higher education. Through the newly formed Credit for Prior Learning program, non-traditional students may translate relevant professional experience into university credits. This approach allows learners to bypass parts of the traditional course sequence, accelerating their progress toward a degree while recognizing the value of what they already know and have accomplished outside the classroom.

The Mary and Frances Youth Center is excited to partner with VCU University College, the Interdisciplinary Studies program, and Continuing and Professional Education to create flexible, supportive options for cohort members and program alumni. Together, these collaborations will help participants identify and pursue individualized academic pathways—ranging from stackable credentials to full degree programs—making it easier for graduates to return to the university, stay on track, and reach their long-term educational and career goals.

Cohort members are encouraged, but not required to attend, the RichmondYDN Professional Skill-Building Day held annually in March in the Richmond region.