Positive Youth Development

This winter, runaway and homeless youth programs funded by the Family and Youth Services Bureau were given the chance to win the materials to paint a mural in their facilities. In a series of Beat posts, we recognize the runners-up and the winner. Here are the essay and artwork submitted by the third-place winner, Sasha Bruce Youthwork, in Washington, DC.
NCFY's new video series features seven youth workers from around the country, each sharing a time when they made a big difference in a young person's life. Lynze Bolton works for First Chance/Y-CHOW in San Bernardino, CA. In his video, he remembers handing a business card to a young man who needed help. Before long, the young man had completely turned his life around.
There’s often a special connection between animals and their caretakers. Penny Ellison, who directs the Hand2Paw Foundation in Philadelphia, sees it every day. Hand2Paw empowers young adults from Covenant House Pennsylvania to volunteer in local animal shelters and help care for homeless pets.
Meet Craig, resident-turned-intern at Sea Haven for Youth, a runaway and homeless youth program in North Myrtle Beach, SC.
NCFY's new video series features seven youth workers from around the country, each sharing a time when they made a big difference in a young person's life. Shane Burroughs, from Valley Youth House in Allentown, PA, told the story of a teen mother who achieved newfound stability after staying at his organization's rapid re-housing program, which finds stable homes for homeless...
This contest from the nonprofit SparkAction aims to identify young people's ideas for creating local jobs and building education and training opportunities for young people. Entrants may make a short video or write a short description of their idea, upload it, then tweet and share it with their social networks. Voting opens on May 15. Visit the SparkOpportunity website for more information.
State Farm's Youth Advisory Board is offering grants for student-led community service projects. Students affiliated with a school or nonprofit can seek funding for projects addressing one of the following topics:
The U.S. Department of State's American Youth Leadership Program will give high school students and adult educators from the United States an opportunity to travel abroad on a three- to four-week-long exchange program to gain firsthand knowledge of foreign cultures and to collaborate on solving global issues. The participants will learn through dialogue and debate, leadership development, and...
Poetry is powerful. Clinical psychologist Rebecca Chalmers sees that power whenever she uses poetry as a therapeutic tool. “When young people share a poem they’ve written, and everyone says that it’s beautiful, that’s supporting who they are and how they’re able to intellectually and emotionally express themselves, and that feels so good,” says Chalmers,...
The drawings have been shared, the essays have been read, and the Family and Youth Services Bureau has chosen the winners of the 2012 Mural Contest for Runaway and Homeless Youth Programs! This year's entries came from across the country and were judged by a panel of six FYSB staff members and eight youth from grantee programs. Judges looked for creativity, youth input and uniqueness....
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