This article describes the first year of a partnership between a university and a community organization working to improve and expand a community-based multigenerational mentoring program for African American adolescent girls ages 12-17. The mentoring program, set in an urban Midwestern city, is a collaboration between university…

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 study assesses the impact of five years of community level activities in the Pomona Youth and Family Master Plan (PYFMP) on four school-related risk and protective factors including academic failure, low school commitment, school opportunities for prosocial involvement, and school rewards for prosocial involvement. The intervention and…

Culturally grounded therapeutic services orchestrated to meet the needs of African American youth remain sparse. The authors address this gap in the areas of scholarship and clinical practice by detailing Future 4 Teens (F4T), an integrated community therapy and education service model targeting African American youth ages 12-21 years old. Based…

Youths trained in intervention skills can help stop a suicide through effective communication and an empathetic response. Extension professionals and community partners developed a layered approach to teaching suicide intervention skills, involving school staff, other community-based adults, and youths in a consistent community training process.…

Hikikomori has been recognized as a significant social issue in Japan. It is a Japanese term that refers to young people (aged 18-39 years) who have been in an asocial state of social withdrawal and social isolation for over six months. The Cabinet Office of Japan suggests that the number of hikikomori youth has reached approximately 700,000 and…

When youth are placed in detention facilities, their education, ties to society, and lives are disrupted. Yet any involvement with the justice system -- regardless of incarceration -- can have implications for one's future earning potential and career trajectory, limiting access to educational opportunities, career fields, and available supports.…

The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) is a federal agency that annually engages millions of Americans in service and volunteering at more than 50,000 sites across the country. Senior Corps and AmeriCorps members play a vital role in helping communities design and implement locally determined, results-driven, cost-effective…

In the context of juvenile justice, writes Traci Schlesinger, "diversion" can mean two things. Informal diversion includes police officers' decisions to warn and release, probation officers' decisions not to report violations, prosecutors' decisions not to prosecute, and judges' decisions to dismiss cases. Informal diversion sends youth…

In the United States, involvement with the juvenile justice system can have a long-lasting negative impact on one's life. Young people who are placed in detention facilities are removed from their homes, their families, and their communities. Their education, their ties to society, and their lives are disrupted. Involvement with the justice system…

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…

First Nations, Métis, and Inuit (FNMI) youth experience many health disparities in comparison with their mainstream Canadian peers. Researchers have recommended that interventions developed to enhance health and well-being for FNMI youth apply a strengths-based approach that acknowledges contextual challenges. This article uses a qualitative…

The challenges presented by the growing prevalence, burden, and unmet service needs of youth mental health problems are formidable. During the past decade, scholars and other stakeholders of the Missouri Prevention Center (MPC) have been using a prevention and implementation science approach to develop, implement, evaluate, and disseminate…

AmeriCorps engages more than 80,000 men and women in intensive service each year at more than 21,000 locations including nonprofits, schools, public agencies, and community and faith-based groups across the country. AmeriCorps members help communities tackle pressing problems while mobilizing millions of volunteers for the organizations they…