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…

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,…

Bootstraps is a 12-week program designed for rural youth, ages 18-21, who are not working and not in school. The program goal is for participants to develop skills and motivation to find meaningful work, which is accomplished through a combination of classroom learning and practical fieldwork. The environmental fieldwork on public lands, funded by…

Peer Resources is at the heart of positive youth development. Trained youth serving in roles such as mentor, tutor, mediator, leader, and educator can change the norms of a school and community. Utilizing people as resources is an important concept to embrace. During the last seven years, peer mentors have reduced the drop-out rate of 16- and…

On February 17, 2009, President Barack Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law. Passed in response to the 2008 recession, the Act's purpose was to create jobs, pump money into the economy, and encourage spending. Through the Act, states received $1.2 billion in funding for the workforce investment system to provide…

In 2003 foster youth employed by a foster youth advocacy organization suggested that an evaluation of group home services to foster youth be conducted in Alameda County, California. This report presents the development and conduct of this evaluation study; how funding was obtained; and how foster youth were hired, trained, and employed to produce…

This report focuses on the seven original Youth Transition Demonstration (YTD) projects selected for funding in 2003. Three of the original seven projects were selected for a national random assignment evaluation in 2005; however, this report only focuses on program operations prior to joining the random assignment evaluation for the three…

This article indicates some of the ways in which the National Urban League has dealt with the problem of minority youth. These ways include programs such as the Street Academy Program, student internship programs, and the Black Executive Exchange Program, a conference on youth employment, and affiliation with other programs. (Author/AM)

This publication provides examples of diverse local initiatives that represent approaches to serving young people, particularly disadvantaged African Americans and Latinos. This report includes a forward emphasizing the background and current need for the types of programs highlighted, and an introduction that argues for the effectiveness of…

To analyze the problems of rural youth in a changing environment, 520 participants from 48 states attended this conference. Winthrop Rockefeller delivered the keynote address, "Let's Listen to Youth," a study prepared for the Rockefeller Brothers Fund concerning the problems, attitudes, and aspirations of rural youth based on the analysis of…

This annotated bibliography, the fourth of a series of five reports of selected literature included in the ERIC system, carries a short review on the history and operation of the Neighborhood Youth Corps. The 21 items in the list have the following breakdown: (1) program descriptions; (2) characteristics of participants; (3) evaluation reports;…

A survey examined the involvement of 11 voluntary agencies in providing employment-related services and programs for youth. A field-tested survey was completed by 1,005 respondents from corporate units of the following organizations: American Red Cross Youth Services, Boys' Clubs of America, Boy Scouts of America, Camp Fire, 4-H Youth Programs,…

In a broad sense, this study is concerned with increasing the responsiveness of the federal government in improving the employment prospects of disadvantaged youth. In a narrower sense, it is concerned with increasing the effectiveness and the efficiency of local In-School Neighborhood Youth Corps (NYC) programs. This report had four specific…

Examines the Program for Local Service (PLS), which began in 1943 in the Seattle area. Essentially, the program provided for youth volunteers to serve in approved public or nonprofit organizations. (Author/AM)

Outlines some of the achievements of the Summer Program for Economically Disadvantaged Youth (SPEDY) during the summer of 1978. Four programs in Virginia, Minnesota, Texas, and Washington are examined not because they are exemplary but because they illustrate what is happening in some of the better youth employment programs around the country. (CT)