The proportion of teenagers engaging in sex has declined in recent decades, and rates of teen births in the United States have reached a historic low (Osterman et al., 2022). However, risky sexual activity, which can result in teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), remains a concern. To help reduce teen pregnancies and STIs…

There is a critical need to identify solutions to the unemployment of high school dropouts. When a student prematurely leaves school, the economic, social, and political impacts result in negative consequences for the individual and the community. Of the nearly 2.2 million students who drop out of high school every year in the United States,…

Non-formal learning for urban youth has a long history in the United States; it remains a source of innovation. This essay draws on literature about organizations that use community ties to encourage cognitive development and identity formation. It then describes how one youth organization in Camden, New Jersey uses presentations to the community…

This article shares lessons learned from the implementation of a community-based character education program in Malaysia. The program at Jenjarom Learning Center is directed toward the transformation and empowerment of local children and youth through moral and character education. The stated purpose of the program has been to awaken the…

Few formal post-secondary educational programs in the United States focus on youth work, thus youth workers often enter the field with diverse backgrounds and varying levels of experience working with youth. Drawing on mounting evidence that quality youth service requires skilled staff, professional-development opportunities have received…

In this article, we trace learning across the digital video production process through case studies with four youth media arts organizations (YMAOs) across the United States. We hypothesize that what these organizations share is a series of key moments throughout the production process in which youth must articulate the relationship between the…

More than 32,000 young people in the United States exit the foster care system in a typical year by aging out to independence (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2011). Despite available financial support for post-secondary education through the Foster Care Independence Act of 1999, only 20% of college-qualified foster youth attend college and…

There is a wise proverb that insists it takes a whole village to raise a child to adulthood. In light of the expanding convolution of contemporary values, it is especially important to attentively nurture the inherent desire in each developing human person to seek good and avoid evil, especially during the critical years of adolescent formation.…

Overviews four demonstration programs developed out of a recently enacted federal youth employment act: The Young Adult Conservation Corps (YACC), The Youth Community Conservation and Improvement Projects, The Youth Incentive Entitlement Pilot Projects, and Youth Employment and Training Programs. (EM)

This report describes twenty federally funded youth employment program models and innovations. Each four-page description includes the following: program title, name of operating agency, project costs, source of funds, number of participants, unique program features, duration of grant, major program goals and objectives, prime sponsor, contact…

Focusing on follow-through, synthesis, dissemination, and application, this Youth Employment and Demonstration Projects Act plan for knowledge development in 1980 is divided into seven key sections. The first section presents projects which will require continued funding and refinement to realize their objectives. Section 2 provides a list of…

This article describes a service-learning project implemented at Colorado State University to assist a South African non-profit organization in enhancing their music education program, while at the same time advancing the international perspectives of American students in a senior capstone course on program development and grant writing. In the…

This planning charter for the Youth Employment and Demonstration Projects Act (YEDPA) explains the Department of Labor's basic principles in designing and implementing YEDPA programs to provide a framework for the development of YEDPA efforts. This booklet is divided into six sections. The first section briefly discusses priorities regarding the…

Presents a new focus of evaluation, known as knowledge development, and describes early attempts to implement the concept by the Department of Labor's Youth Programs Office, particularly Youthwork, one of the intermediary corporations contracting to improve school achievement and subsequent youth employment. Discusses guidelines for demonstration…

This manual presents background information and administrative techniques which are intended to strengthen youth programs and interorganization coordination with the Youth Development Program (YDP) and the Community Action Agency (CAA). The content is in four sections. The section on program definitions includes definitions, history, and…