For many years, those who work in the mentoring field have wondered how they can extend the impact of their programs beyond the benefits experienced by young people they serve. There has been an increasing desire within our field to harness the power of mentoring to enable the youth served in a program to not just grow individually, but to…

This paper explores the external developmental assets and how they manifest in specific youth programs from Colombia, Guatemala, and Honduras. An evaluation process was created through a qualitative phenomenological with the youth programs' leadership. To triangulate the data, a survey was developed and piloted with a small sample from three youth…

The Global Resilience Oral Workshops (GROW) Free and Strong programs take a strengths-based, positive youth development (PYD) approach to promoting thriving. Through both prevention (GROW Strong) and intervention (GROW Free) exercises, these programs aim to build character and emotional resilience while also lowering unhealthy alcohol use. To…

The purpose of this study was to explore potential effects of a 12-week therapeutic mentoring program targeting social, emotional, and behavioral concerns in 52 children and adolescents between 11 and 17 years of age. Self-reported scores on a norm-referenced behavioral questionnaire were tracked across the span of a mentoring program, and then…

This dissertation consists of two chapters that examine the impact of educational and positive youth development programs on students' academic and behavioral outcomes. In the first chapter, I evaluate the effect of the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) program, a school meal provision allowing schools meeting the eligibility requirements to…

Although US teenage birth rates substantially decreased over the past two decades, it still remains the highest in the developed world. More innovative, community-wide initiatives are needed to combat the issue. In Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, the Central Oklahoma Teen Pregnancy Prevention Collaboration is utilizing the collective impact model to…

This report analyzes case studies of "more and better learning time" efforts around the country. With support from the Ford Foundation, America's Promise Alliance looked in Grand Rapids, MI; Louisville, KY; Memphis, TN; and Rochester, NY to see how time spent out of the classroom improved outcomes for students in low-income neighborhoods…

Background: Due to the rising demands for a Canadian workforce with science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM)-related education, there is a need to increase youth engagement in STEM education and programming. Research, however, has shown that youth residing in low-income communities are disproportionately affected by psychosocial barriers,…

Funded through the New York City Young Men's Initiative (YMI), the Cornerstone Mentoring Program is designed to support youth in key life and educational transitions as they progress into middle and high school, through the development of relationships with positive and caring adults. Launched in 2012, the mentoring program is implemented in…

The New York City Young Men's Initiative (YMI) is a cross-agency initiative that aims to address the disparities in socioeconomic outcomes between young Black and Latino men and their peers. In support of this vision, the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) launched a mentoring program in its Cornerstone Community…

This case describes an ongoing effort to develop and implement an innovative developmental evaluation framework to support a community-based youth violence prevention system in Seattle, Washington, called the Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative. This initiative began in 2009 in response to several gang-related homicides, and now serves…

In 2004, the Aspen Institute Roundtable on Community Change emphasized the need for a comprehensive base of information on the effectiveness of community collaborations for youth--an accessible, evidence-rich resource that could guide local efforts to bring about meaningful change. Nearly 10 years later, this need remains largely unmet. In…

Many studies have highlighted the capacity of community arts programs to re-engage those young people considered at-risk of disconnection from future education and/or employment. "Evolution" is an artist-guided visual arts program established for young people challenged by mental health and social issues that aims to foster re-engagement…

Community-based education programs must demonstrate effectiveness to various funding sources. The pilot study reported here (funded by CYFAR, NIFA, USDA award #2008-41520-04810) had the goal of determining if state level programs with varied curriculum could use a common evaluation tool to demonstrate efficacy. Results in parenting and youth…

In keeping with the overarching RadioActive101 (RA101) spirit and ethos, this report is the product of collaborative and joined-up thinking from within the European consortium spread across five countries. As such, it is not simply a single voice reporting on the experiences and knowledge gained during the project. Rather it is a range of…