This article explores the relationship between critical literacy practice, digital media production, and civic agency in the Council of Youth Research, a youth participatory action research program in which Los Angeles high school students conduct research and create dynamic, multimedia presentations as leaders of a growing youth movement for…

Positive youth development and youth organizing are strengths-based approaches to the lives, needs, and contributions of young people (Damon & Gregory, 2003). These approaches privilege the voices of youth as they engage with issues in their communities and challenge institutions to respond. Few studies, however, have explored the role of…

Through an analysis of a practice-oriented course on youth worker professional development consisting of 10 community youth workers and 11 traditional college students, this paper suggests the need to construct the classroom as a "borderland." Course structure, class composition, pedagogical strategies, and deliberate learning objectives disrupted…

Philadelphia has a rich history of high school student activism, stretching back to 1967, when 3,500 Philadelphia students walked out of their schools, marched to the Board of Education, and demanded the addition of black history courses taught by black teachers, the removal of police from high schools, and an increase in the hiring of black…

This article examines how arts-based informal learning spaces engage young people at the intersection of creativity and technology. We conducted case studies of four youth media arts organizations to understand how teaching is defined and realized in these contexts. We find that teaching is a distributed act that sits at the intersection of…

This commentary lends a global practitioner perspective on the utility of this volume to the efforts of mentors and mentees and mentoring program developers. Dave Marshall and Karen Shaver, of Big Brothers Big Sisters New Zealand and Canada, respectively, offer keen insights into the value of creating a shared language for discussing mentoring…

Public discourse suggests that volunteer work will transform youth into productive citizens by connecting youth to their communities. However, the meaning and practice of "community" is rarely defined or investigated. Using interview and observation data from a study of 47 volunteers aged 15-23, I argue that there are three different types of…

After-school community-based spaces are often recognized in political and educational discourse as institutions that "save" and "rescue" Black youth. Such rhetoric perpetuates an ethos of pathology that diminishes the agency of youth and their communities. Through ethnographic research with 20 youth workers at a college…

"Empowerment" is the buzzword in youth development today. As youth development professionals, are we truly allowing our youth to be equal partners? Do we provide them the opportunities to practice and gain mastery of the leadership skills we teach them? This article presents a proven model that has successfully empowered youth to lead a…

The study explores the civic identities of Romanian youth. Children born after 1989 have no memory of the communism; yet, they are the children and students of those who were educated under communism. Data sources were small group interviews with 21 youth and results indicate that participants believe "civic engagement is possible and…

New York City is facing a youth employment crisis, with unprecedented numbers of young people reaching adulthood without the skills or experiences to secure career-track jobs that pay a living wage. Since 2000, the percentage of 16 to 24 year olds across the five boroughs participating in the labor market has fallen from 45 percent to 29 percent,…

Measuring the various structural aspects of the organizing framework for this volume and relating them to match quality and relevant developmental outcomes is a critical step toward assessing the framework's utility for practitioners, policymakers, and program evaluators. Nakkula and Harris take a step in that direction by exploring core…

As Chief Executive of the National Youth Agency, the author was asked to give her perspective on the lifelong learning prospects for young people. She believes that one's capacity to be a learner and to learn, at whatever stage of life, is directly influenced by every other aspect of one's life, from one's attitudes to one's income. As a young…

Young people in Australia are at greatest risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections, and priority actions are necessary for this population group. This study of marginalised and at-risk young people in out-of-school environments was conducted in Western Australia with the aim of obtaining young people's perceptions about their experience…

This study introduces how technology and humans are part of relationships that influence agency among people with disabilities. It aims to focus attention on the use of, and access to, information and communication technology (ICT), and agency among youths and adults with intellectual disabilities. The study draws on empirical research conducted…