Extension has a role to play in workforce development by preparing the next generation to be successful communicators. While Extension 4-H youth programs have contributed to public speaking development since their inception, there has not been a validated instrument to assess young people's public speaking self-efficacy. We utilized an…

The benefits of youth voice and meaningful and informed youth participation in social and systemic change initiatives are well-documented (Gonzalez et al., 2020; Gonzalez & Kokozos, 2019; Ginwright & Cammarota, 2007), and storytelling has shown promise as an effective pedagogical tool for nurturing and amplifying youth voices. Inspired by…

The place of out-of-school time programming in supporting young people's learning and growth is well established. Yet little is known about the staff and volunteers who support young people in school- and community-based afterschool programs, summer camps, national and local youth-serving organizations, and more. The Youth Fields Workforce Study…

This article explores community-based rock music education as a site for strengthening social cohesion in a context of postwar, interethnic divisions. Focusing on small and incremental changes, it examines the practices of Music Connects, a project in the Western Balkans, and its goals of revitalizing rock culture in support of a more inclusive…

Developing tailored implementation strategies to increase the use of evidence-based practice (EBP) requires accurate identification of predictors of their use. However, known difficulties with measuring EBP use complicates interpretation of the extant literature. In this proof-of-concept study, we examined whether the same predictors of use of…

Entrepreneurship education is critical to many countries' efforts to ameliorate youth unemployment. Embedding entrepreneurship content or skills into school subjects can contribute to these efforts. Although youth unemployment is especially rife in South Africa, its school curriculum does not include extensive entrepreneurship education. For these…

Youth fields professionals create the conditions in which young people can thrive: They activate the vision for high-quality programs; develop tools, systems, and approaches for designing and sustaining such programs; and form relationships with and among participating youth. However while investments in afterschool programming have continued to…

A strong link currently exists between entrepreneurship and use of technology and the Internet, primarily because young people increasingly use digital and online strategies to start and develop entrepreneurial initiatives. The goal of this document analysis is to propose a reference framework for digital rights in youth entrepreneurship based on…

Engaging Youth for Positive Change is a local civic engagement program focused on youth and young adults in the U.S. state of Illinois, and guides them through the process of adopting a local ordinance by working with their local city councils or other governing bodies. Researchers collected two waves of data from EYPC participants to…

Young people's unemployment and social exclusion -- the so-called 'youth problem' -- is one of the main focuses in Finnish youth policies. We examine youth policies and youth support systems by applying a framework of policy analysis developed by Carol Bacchi. We ask (1) what kind of problematisations in youth policies and their implementations…

Volunteers play a pivotal role in enhancing the effectiveness of the 4-H program. Research demonstrates that offering professional development opportunities to volunteers contributes to retention. The Volunteer Research Knowledge Competency Taxonomy (VRKC) is a framework that pinpoints essential competencies for proficiently delivering 4-H youth…

In 2019, Hjørring Municipality launched a comprehensive Youth Guarantee programme to ensure 'positive destinations' for the municipality's youth. The strategy was explicitly inspired by Edinburgh's interpretation of the Scottish Youth Guarantee. In this article, we conceptualize the Youth Guarantee as a policy instrument and unpack the transfer,…

As part of developing the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension 4-H Common Measures system, we created resources for communicating results to stakeholders with research-based visual tools. We outline the creation of two tools that may be useful to CE personnel to use evaluation findings to better "tell their story" to a variety of…

Millions of youth in North America attend summer camps each year. Researchers have documented the potential positive developmental outcomes associated with camp (Flynn et al., 2019; Gagnon et al., 2021; Gillard & Watts, 2013; Warner et al., 2021); however, some youth are required to depart from camp before the end of their session for…

Youth programs are consistently described as settings that offer youth developmental experiences. Summer camps are one example of youth programs with empirical evidence suggesting positive outcomes of participation; however, researchers seldom address how youth's social development, such as attachment, may shape outcomes. By not accounting for…