There have been many meaningful studies over the last quarter century that have explored how young people build critical consciousness, how mentors and other caring adults can support that process, and the benefits that young people experience when they build their sociopolitical understanding and work to make the world around them a better place.…

MENTOR's newest resource takes the cornerstone best-practice guide for mentoring, the "Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring™," and offers research-backed and practice-based tips specifically for STEM mentoring programs. "The STEM Supplement to the Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring™" provides additional…

Background: The current global cohort of youth has been called "a generation at-risk", marked by a dramatic rise in youth who are not in employment, education or training programmes. In 2010, youth were three times as likely as adults to be unemployed, with youth unemployment worsening in 2012 and 2013. Accordingly, there is an urgent…

While research on program effectiveness offers ample evidence that afterschool programs can benefit young people in a variety of ways, this same body of research demonstrates that not all programs are equally effective (Granger, 2008). Some programs show positive results in many or all major outcome categories. Other programs are associated with…

Describes the evolution of a primary, community-based drug prevention program and the challenges associated with becoming established within a particular community. Addresses the use of consortium to implement program goals and objectives; parental involvement and home visitation; developing and maintaining a positive relationship with the host…

Reviews unique environmental features of the sixties that precipitated the growth of Alternative Youth Programs. Internal characteristics of Alternative Youth Programs are surveyed to identify features of counterculture ideology that were assimilated into the early structure of these organizations and contributed to their early success.…

This report reviews the current research and literature on Out of School Time (OST) programs especially with regard to their effectiveness. It also explores the range of OST programs and activities as employed by the various youth-serving sectors; considers the untapped possibilities of OST programs to meet the needs of young people, including…

American youth service history gives some clues to the barriers the nation faces in creating a comprehensive and effective system for youth at risk. Barriers to effective youth service grow out of this history and in part contribute to it. The engine that has driven youth services--and the misperceptions that drive those services--is the theory of…

This report is a synthesis of what Public/Private ventures (P/PV) (Pennsylvania) has learned in 8 years of research into mentoring for adolescents. It also identifies the key issues that remain open with regard to mentoring. An impact study of Big Brothers/Big Sisters provides definitive evidence that youth can obtain benefits from participating…

The goal in this collection of 22 essays is to consider youth policy based on the themes of promoting youth development, building supportive communities, and reforming systems/linking services. These themes arise from the editors' and contributors' belief that policy makers, program planners, practitioners and researchers need to recognize and…

The millions of disadvantaged youth, especially minority group youths, face a bewildering mix of job training and employment programs. Because of bureaucratic regulations and funding complications, most of these programs are not effective for the majority of youths who need them. To be effective, youth employment and training programs should…

Research concerning the roles that race, ethnicity, and culture play in youth development is reviewed; and the implications of this research for the design of youth development programs are analyzed, with recommendations for program planners. The analysis focuses on the various assumptions that have been used with respect to minority youth, the…

As a part of its mandate for equal access to vocational training for special needs individuals, the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 1984 stipulated that if disadvantaged individuals require separate programming to enable them to participate in vocational education, federal funds may be used to pay 50 percent of the cost…

Prepared as a basic background document for an interagency task force on youth employment, this report analyzes youth employment policies and programs for the 1980s. The main body of the report consists of three sections. Section 1, entitled "Policy Perspectives on the Youth Employment Problem," contains a discussion of pathways to…

This Resources for Welfare Decisions highlights publications that offer guidance on developing youth systems under the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA). An introductory section discusses the changes WIA made to youth services; the opportunities and challenges these changes created for Youth Councils and youth service providers; states' role…