The idea that equal education exists in the United States is a misconception, and positive youth development programs are a proposed response to inequitable education. Youth development programs have the potential to increase one's social capital, particularly for youths who are marginalized by inequitable access to quality education. The study…

My journey in the field of stress and coping began in the mid 1980s when I was researching the rather new field of childhood depression. It was a relatively under-explored field, and as a clinical and educational psychologist it was becoming increasingly apparent that there were concerns of young people, with some of these reflected in their…

The number of homeless children and youth in the United States is on the rise (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2016). Between 2016 and 2017 in the Los Angeles County Homeless Count, there was a 41% increase in the number of homeless minors (The Los Angeles Service Authority, 2017). Education is key to bringing people out of…

The purpose of the study was to explore entrepreneurial training as a rehabilitation option to reduce recidivism for juvenile offenders. The problem is that juvenile offenders return to incarceration at alarming rates. The United States record of rehabilitating juvenile offenders has been challenging since its inception of Juvenile Court in 1899.…

How might educators help young people respond to current and future challenges of a changing world? In this article, I describe how educators can design Legacy Projects to provide young people with opportunities to make positive and lasting differences in their lives, schools, communities, and beyond. The connection between legacy projects and the…

This paper details the psychosocial changes in a group of gifted and talented middle-years students who engaged in solving a community-based problem--the lack of a teenage-safe space in their regional Queensland town ("N"). Supported by a Knowledge Producing Schools pedagogy, the young people worked with their local council, teachers, a…

Opportunity Works is a national initiative to dramatically improve the life trajectories of low-income young people ages 16 to 24 who are not in school or working. This population, often called "opportunity youth," comprises a significant segment of America's potential workforce. Yet they are also the young men and women who face the…

The Commission on Education and Employment Opportunities for Young People (Youth Commission) aims to find ways to improve education and employment opportunities for England's 16-24-year olds. The Commission's first report (see ED604277) identified five key challenges: (1) Better supporting 700,000 young people not in education, employment or…

Background: In this paper, we extend findings from previous iterations of a design-based project called ThinkerSpaces design studios that promotes human-centred design among children. ThinkerSpaces design studios is a play-based afterschool club that follows principles of embedded design by prioritising learner agency, exploration and ongoing…

Background: This practice paper exemplifies a systematic approach used to learn about existing mental well-being programs for youth 11-14 years to inform curriculum development for after-school settings. Methods: We reviewed 3389 mental well-being programs from publicly accessed databases and conducted a content analysis using inductive and…

Purpose: Service-learning (SL) is a widely accepted pedagogy that can enrich the learning experience for students in higher education while they apply their skills in a meaningful community service. This research is part of a larger project that aimed to motivate educational achievement among youths living in a priority neighborhood through SL.…

Eviction cases are concentrated among renter households with children, yet we know little about the repercussions of evictions for children's educational trajectories. In this study, we link eviction records in Harris County, Texas, to educational records of students enrolled in the Houston Independent School District between 2002 and 2016. At…

Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) is a strategy that engages young people as researchers who partner with adults to conduct a critical inquiry into subjects salient to their experiences (Caraballo et al., 2017). Between 2020 and 2024, the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities supported six cohorts of youth researchers,…

In recent decades, there has been a rise in global interest in early childhood education and care (ECEC), reflecting an increase in the desire to improve social and educational outcomes for children and to reduce inequalities. This report presents an analysis based on the Study of Early Education and Development (SEED) survey data. SEED is a major…

This article provides examples of how anti-Black racism manifests in police engagement with three Black populations: female survivors of sexual assault, families of homicide victims, and youth involved in the juvenile legal system. The experiences had with the police by each are contextualized in historical and present-day practices as examples of…