Positive Youth Development

According to one recent study, 90 percent of U.S. youth—that’s approximately 37 million young people—connect to the Internet regularly. And young people can be especially vulnerable to the dangers of the virtual world. Identity thieves appropriate names and other personal information in order to steal money or credit card numbers. Cyberbullies use electronic means to torment,...
Youth homelessness is strongly associated with living in poverty, not finishing school, not having a job, being in foster care or the juvenile justice system, getting pregnant or having a child, drinking and using drugs, and having poor mental and physical health. All of those factors are important for youth workers to recognize and address, as the authors of Covenant House Institute’s...
Regardless of the method used to measure the nation’s high school dropout rate, researchers agree that too many students are leaving school without the knowledge and skills they need to meet the demands of twenty-first century workplaces and communities. Two new publications emphasize the fact that keeping youth in school is not just about academics. (Publications discussed here do not...
As a case manager at Adams House, a transitional living program for older adolescent boys in Gastonia, N.C., Ed Smith is always looking for ways to keep residents active. This year, that quest led him to organize a weight-loss competition modeled after “The Biggest Loser,” the reality TV show in which overweight people diet and train hard to lose weight.
Youth programs should be fun, homey places, but many organizations don't have the cash to redecorate. To help our readers brighten up their spaces, we spoke to interior designer Inola Walston of Frederick, MD, about how to redecorate for pennies. She laid out the following steps:
Since 2004, the FosterClub All-Stars have proved an important point: When former foster youth speak about the child welfare system, people listen. The All-Stars are a group of 18- to 24-year-olds who serve a year-long internship for FosterClub, the national network for youth in foster care. All-Stars receive intense training and opportunities to speak to the public, the...
Around the country, runaway and homeless youth organizations are facing the challenge of accommodating more youth as a result of the current economic downturn. The relentless surge of home foreclosures, massive unemployment, stifling consumer debt and bankruptcies are  conspiring to break up families and force more young people to the streets, youth workers say. In this issue of the Exchange...
Research shows that providing expanded learning opportunities, or ELOs, for older youth in the out-of-school hours may make adolescents more likely to go to school, finish their homework, do well on standardized test scores, and have good study habits and high motivation. Such opportunities may also make youth less likely to drop out of school. A trio of articles demonstrates that these benefits...
New research is showing that Positive Youth Development activities are better together and when combined with other strength-building approaches. A diversity of activities, methods and theoretical frameworks is the key to helping young people grow and succeed, researchers say. (Publications discussed here do not necessarily reflect the views of NCFY, the Family and Youth Services Bureau, or the...
Three young men and a youth development expert advise abstinence educators on how to best reach teen guys with the abstinence message. Time: 12:21 | Size: 11.3 MB | Transcript
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National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth | 5515 Security Lane, Suite 800 | North Bethesda, MD 20852 | (301) 608-8098 | ncfy@acf.hhs.gov