Despite increased popular and research interest in youth development and outdoor education, very little research has focused upon the design principles that enhance the effectiveness of these programs. This article presents a scoping review of the literature discussing youth development activities occurring in outdoor environments, in order to…

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…

What is needed to strengthen youth policy in the states? In this Research and Policy Report, co-authored by the Forum for Youth Investment and the National Conference of State Legislatures, learn concrete ways that states are addressing key challenges to creating better aligned and more effective youth policy. (Contains 26 notes and 2 figures.)

While states have put in place scores of youth polices, no state can claim to have a single, coherent youth policy that serves as a lens for assessing and planning individual policies. However, across the country, states are working to develop more coordinated approaches to youth policy. This paper highlights the work that states are doing to…

Child welfare personnel repeatedly move a lesbian youth from one inappropriate placement to another, subjecting her to constant rejection and discrimination and depriving her of a permanent home or family; Detention facility staff place a gay youth in isolation "for his own protection," depriving him of education, recreation, companionship, or…

With high school reform now a front-burner issue, districts and communities cannot afford to have high school after-school on the back burner. In this commentary, we focus on how and why the high school reform and after-school movements need to be woven together to produce a solid system of learning opportunities and developmental supports…

High school is becoming the next frontier for after-school advocates. The conceptual and practical leaps from programming for elementary and middle school students to high school students are significant, with huge marketing challenges. Arguing persuasively for investments in this population requires revisiting almost every strategic decision,…