In Boston and Providence, youth serving organizations recognized a need to credential students' real-world skills including teamwork, perseverance and critical thinking. By issuing digital badges, a microcredential gaining traction in both workforce development and education, programs are equipping students with portable evidence of their skills,…

"Dragons at the Snack Table" explores Magic Realism in relation to lived Applied Theatre spaces.

No child should be born into poverty, but as we know all too well, millions are. In New York City, nearly one out of every three children is poor. It is the city's highest rate of child poverty in three decades. Poverty is more complex than the lack of financial resources--the most vulnerable children often lack access to adequate food, shelter,…

Only 8 percent of children born into poverty graduate from college by the age of 25. Consider what that means for the estimated 500,000 New York City kids living in poverty. It is a fact: The better educated a person is, the better her chances of upward mobility. So when fewer than one in 10 children born into poverty reach their academic…

This report is part of a series of resource publications designed to provide planners with explicit information for planning, funding, and operating programs. It identifies early start-up considerations and presents alternatives for program design and administration of urban conservation and service corps programs. Many of the principles and…

Describes the learning activities that supplement the physical work of the San Francisco Conservation Corps, including journal writing, vocabulary development, oral discussion, plays, and bilingual exercises. Discusses the philosophy behind the program's integrated approach to work and learning. (SV)

This brief is the first in a series featuring promising practices in city-wide after-school initiatives, with a focus at the infrastructure level, focusing on the infrastructure representing the underlying elements or framework that hold a system or initiative together. The brief identifies practices to support the public relations function and…

A Toronto (Canada) outdoor program enables disadvantaged urban youth to connect with nature locally. Incrementally, participants take on increasing responsibility and more challenging tasks. An annual canoe race takes place within the city. A planned leadership and environmental center will provide experiences to reconnect Canadians to their…

Providing disadvantaged youth with the training to continue their education or to obtain meaningful, long-term employment has been hampered by lack of funding, inability to meet the multiple needs of at-risk youth, and the difficulty of recruiting at-risk youth to participate in programs. This report describes and recommends nine employment…

City Bound, an urban-based Belgian youth program, uses challenging social tasks such as visiting a prison or preparing for a mock job interview to foster individual development and social awareness. Discusses options for mixing elements of Outward Bound, a nature-based learning program, and City Bound, as well as specific adaptations for at-risk…

This paper describes an approach to urban youth leadership development, the Albany Institutes for Urban Youth Leaders, which validates urban students' educational aspirations and fosters identification with academic and prosocial concerns. The program helps strengthen relationships between students' promotive characteristics and their involvement…

This document summarizes annual reports of two organizations providing specialized education, training, and work experience to targeted youth who have not been effectively served by the current education system in Minnesota. The City, Inc., in Minneapolis, and the Bi-County Community Action Council, Inc. (BI-CAP) in Bemidji, provided programs for…

A case study of the introduction of the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) in Boston was conducted (1) to chronicle and analyze the changes in employment and training planning and programs as the federal policy changes from a centralized and categorical policy to a decentralized and decategorized one, (2) to examine the impact of…

The Door is a youth center in New York, New York, that has the capacity to respond to a myriad of adolescent needs and problems. Over the past 15 years it has serviced over 100,000 teenagers, 53.4 percent of whom were Black, 23.1 percent Hispanic, 20 percent White, 3.5 percent Asian and other; they come from all over the New York City area.…

Self-help among low-income people is vitally important. In no area is self-help more important than in overcoming poverty's burdens and energizing the escape from poverty. This document comprises an inventory of self-help and mutual-help programs that feature active involvement of members of the low-income population. The programs in this…