In this report, the authors describe how implementation of restorative practices in educational settings and a juvenile diversion program run by the National Conflict Resolution Center (NCRC) in San Diego County are working to stem the school-to-prison pipeline. The authors focus on how NCRC is serving as an intermediary organization for…

As the youth mentoring field has expanded and diversified in America over the last 30-plus years, many adults who care about getting these valuable relationships to more young people have asked questions about the scope and scale of mentoring in American society. In 2014, MENTOR first started to examine these societal level trends in a seminal…

This chapter highlights the voices and experiences of young people in a rural part of the United States as they examine youth engagement in academic and community life and generate recommendations for policies and practices to prevent youth from becoming disconnected.

Objectives: Given the high rates at which adolescents engage in violence, the strong link between adolescent and adult violence, and the financial and social costs of violence, the prevention of violent behavior is a national priority. Methods: The authors conducted a comprehensive review of evaluations utilizing quasi-experimental or experimental…

College student mentors are increasingly mentoring at-risk youth, yet little is known about the benefits that college students derive from their experience mentoring within the context of a service-learning course. This qualitative study used focus groups to examine college students' experiences as participants in a unique program, Campus Corps:…

"The Role of Risk: Mentoring Experiences and Outcomes for Youth with Varying Risk Profiles" presents findings from the first large-scale study to examine how the levels and types of risk youth face may influence their relationships with program-assigned mentors and the benefits they derive from these relationships. The study looked…

Background: Surveys of community-based programs are difficult to conduct when there is virtually no information about the number or locations of the programs of interest. This article describes the methodology used by the Helping Young Smokers Quit (HYSQ) initiative to identify and profile community-based youth smoking cessation programs in the…

Communities benefit from meaningful involvement by individuals of all ages, but adults don't always perceive youth as legitimate, crucial contributors to community decision-making processes. The purpose of the study reported here was to determine if adults who participated with youth in the Horizons program changed their attitudes, opinions, and…

How well do youth offending teams (YOT) work? In which areas of their work is their performance excellent and where is improvement needed? This research examined annual performance assessments of services for children and young people undertaken by Ofsted in 57 local authorities from January 2006 to April 2009, together with relevant data relating…

Advances in prevention science in the past 25 years provide important direction for neighborhood and community efforts to improve the lives of youth. Prevention scientists have applied a public health approach to youth problems such as drug use and delinquency, and have shown that these problems can be prevented. The identification of risk and…

In the wake of a U.S. Justice Department investigation that found widespread use of excessive force by staff at upstate psychiatric care facilities for mentally ill children, this new edition of Child Welfare Watch identifies shortcomings in mental health services and explores possible solutions, including the expansion of alternatives to…

Youth violence and delinquency are problems that continue to challenge many communities across the U.S. For over a decade, Pennsylvania has been a national leader in confronting youth problem behaviors in a progressive and proactive fashion, investing heavily in supporting local community prevention coalitions and the use of proven-effective…