The "National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program" is a residential education and training program designed for youth ages 16 to 18 who have dropped out of or been expelled from high school. During the 22-week residential period, participants are offered GED preparation classes and other program services intended to promote positive youth…

Physical and verbal aggression is an increasing problem in both middle and high schools across the United States. While physical forms of aggression are targeted in traditional "bullying" programs, relational aggression (RA), or the use of relationships to hurt another, is often not detected or addressed. For girls in the stage of identity…

Outlines the four worlds of childhood and the ways that alienation in adolescents can be counteracted through the creation of interconnecting links. The risks of losing youths to alienating factors caused by institutions, the social structure, and the pressures under which schools and families function is the highest it has ever been. (MD)

The mentoring of youth by adults has been identified as one of the more promising program approaches to promoting positive youth outcomes. This synthesis examines the role that mentoring plays in helping youth develop a broad array of strengths and capacities related to: (1) education and cognitive attainment; (2) health and safety; (3) social and…

Mentoring programs attempt to foster a relationship that is too often missing from the lives of disadvantaged children and youth. However, in view of both the power and the limitations of mentoring programs, it is important to understand how mentoring occurs naturally. Assuming an ecological perspective, we examine mentoring in four contexts:…

The processes by which mentors might improve the self-esteem of economically vulnerable African American male youth are explored, drawing on previous research. The combination of biological, behavioral, and societal factors faced by young black males is complex, and has implications for identity processes. The initial longitudinal study of urban…

The Urban Institute organized a workshop to receive the reactions of experts to a model for helping underclass youth, the Mentor, Peer Group, and Incentive (MPI) Model. This model uses the three components of mentors, peer groups, and incentives to improve the life chances of adolescent males in socially distressed neighborhoods. Workshop…

This research compendium summarizes and reviews the evaluations of 13 out-of-school time programs with positive outcomes for young people. The programs are (1) 4-H; (2) 21st Century Community Learning Centers; (3) The After-School Corporation; (4) Beacons; (5) BELL After School Instructional Curriculum; (6) Big Brothers Big Sisters of America; (7)…