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…

Youth development professionals (YDPs) working at community-based organizations are in a unique position to interact with the adolescents because they are neither parents/guardians nor teachers. The objectives of this study were to explore qualitatively what sexual health issues adolescents discuss with YDPs and to describe those issues using the…

Out-of-school time (OST) programs focused on older youth--specifically, youth in middle and high school--can help participants successfully navigate their adolescence and learn new skills well into their teens. OST programs can also help prepare older youth for a variety of new roles that they will assume as they enter college and the workforce.…

4-H has long emphasized the importance of civic engagement and community service for positive youth development. One pathway to this ideal is youth action research and evaluation. This article demonstrates how participatory youth research and evaluation can lead to the successful implementation of community action projects. It describes the…

The community-based arts environment is uniquely suited to addressing the needs of young people in the area of growing emotional intelligence. The arts offer specific structures, systems, and dynamics that allow for the emergence of the emotional adolescent self. Leaders in the community-based arts field must consciously position their…

This study explored the practices of teachers, nonformal science educators, community organizers, youth program managers, and other educators facilitating youth participation in local environmental action, as well as the experiences of some of the youth involved. We conducted narrative interviews with 33 educators facilitating youth environmental…

4-H Bloco Drum and Dance is an afterschool program that teaches adolescents drumming, dancing, and theater arts in the rich traditions of Brazilian Carnaval. Teens learn to express themselves in a variety of modalities and perform at community events. The program was developed by a community coalition that included 4-H, other youth programs, and…

Kansas City, Missouri, is one of six sites in a national demonstration project, Community Change for Youth Development (CCYD), which aims to increase basic developmental supports and opportunities available to youth age 12-20 years. The demonstration focuses on five basic elements: adult support and guidance, opportunities for involvement in…

For the first time ever, Citizen Through Sports Alliance (CTSA) convened a panel of youth sports experts from across the country to evaluate youth sports in the United States and articulate its successes and failures. The panel evaluated only community-based youth sports programs, focusing on those that serve children ages 6 to 14. The panel is…

This report is the product of a 2-year project during which the Committee on Community-Level Programs for Youth, a 15-member panel, evaluated and integrated the current science on adolescent health and development with research and findings regarding program design, implementation, and evaluation of community programs for youth. It highlights…

In the slums of Medellin, Colombia, a program seeks to improve children's physical health, intellectual development, and self-concept through such activities as carpentry, breadmaking, and sports and literature clubs. These activities help develop ethical and moral values, planning and organizing skills, and a future orientation. (SK)

Introduces a collection of articles that proposes standards for empirically supported prevention programming for children and youth and steps to integrate prevention science with practice. Articles highlight key research findings and common principles for effective programming across family, school, community, health care, and policy interventions…

In the San Francisco Bay Area (California), community agencies and organizations routinely use teenagers as mentors and teachers of peers and younger children. Despite the literature indicating that teens should derive many benefits from these roles, agency staff have observed teen teachers who appear frustrated, bored, or disengaged, or who have…

Sketches the development, achievements, and reception of a community-based educational program for disadvantaged Israeli youths. Stresses the importance of the youths' view of their own development cycle and the significance of the youths' brief (as opposed to protracted, Western-style) adolescence. (RDN)

The third wave of the Overcoming the Odds longitudinal study involves data about individual and ecological developmental assets and thriving among African American male adolescents in inner-city Detroit gangs (N = 43) or in youth development, community-based organizations (CBO; N = 50). Both groups had comparable levels of either low or high…