Community programs to promote youth development: Executive summary

1996

As youth development professionals, as parents, and as friends and neighbors in a community we are acutely aware of the suffering and loss of human potential that accompany young peoples' decisions to engage in problem behaviors (e.g., drugs and alcohol, delinquency, unsafe sex and failure in school). When we consider this loss on a national level the concern we feel for the individuals caught up in high risk behavior must become a concern for the society as a whole. Whether the youth of today participate in high risk behavior or not, they will be affected by living in a society where so many other youth have minimized their chances to become healthy productive adults. It is not surprising that as the percentage of today's youth identified as "at risk" grows to shocking proportions, we often hear this generation referred to as the "lost generation" or as a generation in crisis. A crisis is generally defined as "any sudden interruption in the normal c...

2006

core operating division of impact strategies, inc.

Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, 2006

R esearch over the past decade indicates that healthy youth development strategies-the deliberate process of providing all youth with the support, relationships, experiences, resources, and opportunities needed to become successful and competent adults-are promising approaches for preventing or reducing a wide range of adolescent health-risk behaviors. In this article, we describe the history, science, and practice of healthy youth development. First, a brief overview of barriers to healthy youth development including obstacles the United States will face in the coming decades for meetings the needs of all youth is provided. We present the history of resiliency research that illuminated the concepts "risk factors," "protective factors," and "healthy youth development," and provide definitions of each of these concepts. Next, we discuss select empirical evidence supporting youth development strategies and highlight the events and experiences in the lives of youth that have been consistently shown to protect youth against a broad range of health-risk behaviors. Finally, we describe elements of effective interventions for promoting the healthy development of all young people.

Integrating mentoring into existing youth programs has been suggested as a promising approach to youth development. This article discusses a theoretical rationale underlying the integration of one-on-one mentoring into established youth development programs. From an ecological perspective, the addition of mentoring into traditional programs should theoretically enhance the youth development experience. Mentoring, in addition to programs like 4-H, enriches the context in which developing youth are supported and encouraged by non-parental adults to develop competencies, to take on leadership responsibilities, and to integrate into positive peer groups (i.e., 4-H clubs). A multi-component program that involves at-risk youth in both mentoring and 4-H activities is highlighted. Results from at-risk youth and their parents indicate that Utah’s 4-H/ Mentoring: Youth and Families with Promise program strengthens the protective factors of academic achievement, social competence, and family b...

Journal of Adolescent Health, 2005

Purpose: The Community Coalition Partnership Program for the Prevention of Teen Pregnancy provided a unique laboratory for observing how youth development projects were implemented in 13 community-based settings. This article focuses on the scope of these efforts, the content of the projects, and their expected outcomes. Methods: The investigators inventoried all youth development activities created within the grantee communities between 1997 and 2000 and then surveyed 28 site representatives by telephone. The scope and content of the identified youth development programs were compared with national registries of other such programs. Results: The youth development efforts implemented by the 13 grantees were diverse, multifaceted, and broad in scope. Most were short-term, but reflected a broad base of support for youth development principles among various community partners. Of the array of youth development efforts developed, more than two-thirds targeted three program areas: community services/outreach, education/training programs, or mentoring programs-a pattern found among youth development programs throughout the country. Conclusions: Within this partnership, youth development was a better-received framework for mobilizing community partners than were more traditional pregnancy prevention approaches. Communities were successful in creating diverse programs that may have benefits for individual youth, service agencies, and the community at large. Youth development has emerged as a promising strategy for the prevention of teen pregnancy [1], as well as other risk behaviors among youth . Despite the reported promise and growing popularity of this approach, practitioners have reached only limited agreement about how such programs should be developed and implemented. The link between specific youth development principles and their program applications remains unclear and the effectiveness of specific approaches untested. In short, although many would agree that the youth development model has substantial merit, much remains to be learned about how such programs can be established in community settings.

Issue brief (Grantmakers in Health), 2003

As part of its continuing mission to serve trustees and staff of health foundations and corporate giving programs, Grantmakers In Health (GIH) convened a group of experts from the fields of philanthropy, research, government, and health care to examine recent research on youth development and effective approaches for promoting healthy decision making by adolescents. This Issue Dialogue, Positive Youth Development: A Pathway to Healthy Teens-held June 13, 2002 in Washington, DC-provided an opportunity for grantmakers to explore how they can apply youth development principles and asset-based strategies to their grantmaking to promote healthy development and healthy decision making by the adolescents in their communities. This Issue Brief incorporates the information and ideas shared during the meeting into a background paper prepared for participants at the Issue Dialogue. It provides an introduction to positive youth development; describes the characteristics of effective services an...

1991

This document provides a working definition of youth development based on existing theories and discussions, and crafts a strong case for strengthening the role of the non-school voluntary sector in promoting youth development. Part I of this three-part report focuses on this working definition of youth development, examining the need for such a definition, the need within the non school voluntary sector, and a framework for thinking about youth development and youth development supports. Part II works toward a theory of youth development. Competence and competencies are defined, as are basic needs. The relationship oetween needs and competencies is explored, and implications for a theory of positive youth development agents are discussed. The actors that influence youth are identified. Part III examines the role of the voluntary sector in promoting positive youth development. This section includes a snapshot of the non-school voluntary sector, a sampling of empirical evidence that strengthening youth programming within the non-school voluntary sector makes sense, and a sampling of supportive theories. The document concludes that there is a strong case for strengthening and better defining the role of community programs in youth development. "Communities and Adolescents: An Exploration of Reciprocal Supports" is appended. A 10-page bibliography is included.

2019

Youth in low-income urban settings face a variety of challenges, or risk factors. These youth often lack resources to meet their personal and professional goals, and have higher levels of exposure to violence, crime, and substance abuse, among other risky behaviors, when compared with youth who reside in other areas (Farrell & Johnson, 2005). In addition, in the US, 26% of youth are unsupervised in the afternoon hours directly after school, which are also the most critical hours for risky behavior and juvenile crime (After School Alliance, 2009).

As part of its 10-year Building Health Communities (BHC) Initiative, The California Endowment (TCE) supported the healthy development of youth in 14 communities across the state. To this end, it has provided financial support to programs that engage youth in civic activities, including those that focus on youth development and youth organizing. These youth civic engagement programs have the potential to promote more healthful communities by influencing a) the behavior and beliefs of participating youth; and b) the responsiveness, commitment, and capacity of local institutions responsible for youths’ health and well-being. Our evaluation contains three main objectives: 1. To assess how and to what extent TCE funded youth programs: a) promote diverse youths’ health-related behaviors, psychological wellness, and investment in community well-being in the both the short term and long-term; b) impact the quality of interactions between youth and local healthcare, educational, and civic institutions. 2. To provide funded organizations information about the strengths of their programs and areas of growth. To this end, the evaluation will inform cross-site training opportunities. 3. To contribute to research on the health outcomes of youth development and youth organizing programming targeting low-income and diverse youth.

Social Work, 1997

EJ562278 - Youths and Communities: Toward Comprehensive Strategies for Youth Development.

2000

This chapter reviews the main direct causes of loss of productive life years among adolescents and the range of interventions to address these causes.It pays special attention to sexual and repro- ductive health because adolescence is when important transi- tions occur that can have a direct effect on young people's health

… official publication of the Society for …, 1988

D&very Programs for Youth consisted of professionals representing medicine, nursing, diiors of youth programs, heads of university public health, health policy and adolescent medicine divisions, and directors and program officers from foundations. Discussion initially focused upon, and subsequently expanded upon, the backgwund paper of Jellinek.

Journal of public health management and practice : JPHMP, 2006

and Nicole Yohalem r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r

Journal of Adolescent Health Care, 1988

me study group on Integrated Community Health D&very Programs for Youth consisted of professionals representing medicine, nursing, diiors of youth programs, heads of university public health, health policy and adolescent medicine divisions, and directors and program officers from foundations. Discussion initially focused upon, and subsequently expanded upon, the backgwund paper of Jellinek. The multiple health problems of youth often reflect the rapid biopsychosocial changes that occur during adolescence. The interaction of these changes and problems, along with the uniqueness of adolescents as consumers, require health services specifically designed and_ implemented to meet the diverse needs of youth. It is these unique requirements of adolescents that provide the rationale for considering the utility of integrated community health delivery services as vehicles for addressing the health care needs of youth. Characteristics of an Zntegrated Community Health Delivery Program Considerable attention was focused on the defining characteristics of integrated community health services for youth as a means of considenng the state of the art of these community health delivery programs, as well as projecting Research, policy, service, and training agendas for the next two decades. Obstacles for pro-Fmm the Unmmity of Minnesotrr, Minneapolis.