Adults must continually learn to navigate the challenges of society and the job market. This lifelong learning is vital, particularly for vulnerable adults, and should be fostered in their living and working environment. In this article, we present a literature review exploring the conditions of conducive learning environments at meso-level, being…

The Drug-Free Communities (DFC) Support Program aims to reduce youth substance use by fostering multi-sector collaboration and implementing locally tailored strategies within the community. This study is among the first to evaluate the program's impact on youth development outcomes in the United States. Using the Callaway and Sant'Anna (2021)…

While research abounds on the outcomes of out-of-school time programs for youth, most studies focus on programs with similar profiles or within the same program category, leaving a notable gap in examining youth experiences across programs with different delivery modes. The current research investigated the perceived experiences of youth in two…

The foremost index of caregiving quality is child attachment, as supported by attachment theory. Research supports the relevance of early parenting interventions in improving child outcomes in attachment quality to promote public health because of their long-term effects on mental health and functioning. This study aimed at evaluating the impact…

For many years, those who work in the mentoring field have wondered how they can extend the impact of their programs beyond the benefits experienced by young people they serve. There has been an increasing desire within our field to harness the power of mentoring to enable the youth served in a program to not just grow individually, but to…

Community-engaged approaches to addressing mental health concerns have reduced health inequities experienced by refugee communities. Problem Management Plus (PM+)--a brief psychological intervention developed by the World Health Organization--has shown effectiveness in improving mental health and well-being of adults experiencing distress. This…

This report evaluates the Institute of Museum and Library Services' (IMLS) four grant programs specifically designed to support library and museum services in Native American, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian (Kanaka Maoli) communities. Conducted by a combination of Kituwah Services, LLC (Kituwah Services), ICF, and IMLS, the evaluation examined…

The Global Resilience Oral Workshops (GROW) Free and Strong programs take a strengths-based, positive youth development (PYD) approach to promoting thriving. Through both prevention (GROW Strong) and intervention (GROW Free) exercises, these programs aim to build character and emotional resilience while also lowering unhealthy alcohol use. To…

A growing divide in physical activity amongst youth, fueled by the privatization of youth athletic programs, most negatively impacts underrepresented students. Intramural-sports programs hold the potential to engage more of our youth in physical activity, including those from marginalized populations. Utilizing a collective impact approach,…

Introduction: This article investigates an early STEM family engagement program offered during the pre-kindergarten (pre-k) year. Pre-k is an important juncture for community organizations to support children's STEM engagement and parental involvement in informal STEM learning. We evaluated a program called Teaching Together STEM, which offers a…