The Framework
Turning mattering into practice.
The Mattering for Wisconsin Framework turns the idea of mattering into an approach that can be practiced across the environments where young people already spend their time. It connects four dimensions of mattering with skill development, real-world application, feedback, and documentation.
The four dimensions of mattering.
Attention
Being Noticed
Young people experience attention when adults notice their effort, progress, presence, and individual strengths.
Importance
Being Valued
Young people experience importance when adults communicate that their ideas, contributions, and presence have value.
Dependence
Being Relied Upon
Young people experience dependence when they are trusted with meaningful responsibility and others genuinely count on them.
Appreciation
Being Recognized
Young people experience appreciation when effort, growth, contribution, and progress are acknowledged.
Skills That Transfer
Taught, practiced, reinforced, and documented.
The framework connects mattering with skills that can be taught, practiced, reinforced, and documented across settings.
Mental Skills
- Goal setting
- Confidence
- Resilience
- Motivation
- Emotional regulation
Social Skills
- Communication
- Teamwork
- Conflict resolution
- Leadership
- Empathy
Workforce Skills
- Reliability
- Adaptability
- Problem-solving
- Professionalism
- Technical skills
Learning Happens in Real Life
Growth in the places youth already are.
Young people develop across many environments. Schools, workplaces, physical activity programs, and community organizations can each provide opportunities to learn skills, practice them in authentic situations, receive feedback from trusted adults, and document growth.
Urban Application
Urban communities can connect schools, employers, healthcare organizations, physical activity programs, and community partners through a shared approach to youth development.
Rural Application
Rural communities can build from existing relationships, local organizations, community identity, and workforce connections while using the same core framework but customized for rural Wisconsin through advice and help from youths in organizations that capture the breadth of the state.
Youth Voice
Built with young people, from the start.
Young people help shape the tools, priorities, and implementation of Mattering for Wisconsin. Youth voice is part of how the framework is built, not simply an activity added after decisions are made.
See what the framework produces.
The Framework is the shared approach. The Mattering Resume is what it produces: a living record of a young person's growth.
