This brief examines the challenges youth face in the current job market and proposes recommendations for a national subsidized employment program that prioritizes equity and amplifies youth voices. The insights provided in this brief are informed by several listening sessions with members of the Communities Collaborating to Reconnect Youth Network…

Young adults today are the least happy demographic group, departing from a long-established U-shaped relationship between life satisfaction and age in many countries worldwide. The longstanding U-curve reflects the unhappiness and stress that most people experience in the midlife years as they juggle financial and family constraints while both the…

Background: Many students would benefit from trauma-informed physical activity (PA); however, there is a lack of systematic guidance on incorporating trauma-informed practices across school-based PA opportunities. The purpose of this study was to generate a feasible framework for trauma-informed school-based PA. Methods: Framework development was…

This paper critically evaluates the concept of innovation, in the context of the funding of youth work within Erasmus+ Key Acton 2, but the findings are applicable to other settings which emphasise innovation. The paper argues that, first, innovation is problematic because it lacks a definition. Second, innovation is founded on a neoliberal…

This article uses a framework that combines LatCrit theory, racist nativism, and liberating pedagogy of praxis (LPP) to examine how a community youth program's LPP practices countered the racist nativism Latinx youth experience in their high school. LPP practices challenged racist nativism by creating a space where Latinx youth faced each other in…

Purpose: This study aims to explore how youth express empathy as an aspect of social action. Social empathy was investigated among adolescents participating in a youth organizing initiative. Design/methodology/approach: This study used elements of critical discourse analysis to examine participant expression of social empathy through examination…

Youth with disabilities continue to experience poor post-school outcomes as compared to their peers without disabilities. In this multilevel study, we used an intersectional lens to examine college and career readiness (CCR) among youth with and without disabilities (N = 3523). A CCR assessment yielded four domain scores: Academic Engagement and…

Background: Wilderness therapy (WT) has become a popular method of intervention with youth residing in residential facilities (RFs), and an important part of their treatment plan. Thus, the dual positioning and role of RF staff members - who both accompany participants on the WT journey and, at the same time, participate in their on-site, daily…

The challenges faced by youth can hinder them from reaching their full potential or help them grow and develop as they overcome their challenges. Grit and resilience provide young people with the skills, confidence, and perseverance to overcome challenges, pursue their goals and thrive. In this article, the authors examine the complex constructs…

Youth substance use challenges their health and well-being. There is research and practical need for rigorous evaluation of substance use prevention programs in prompting positive youth development. This study examined the program effectiveness of Health Rocks!, a youth substance use prevention program, with a quasi-experimental two-factor mixed…

Youth of Color in the United States are often leaders in movements for social justice. Evidence suggests that organizing has a positive macro-therapeutic effect on the mental health of young organizers; however, they can also experience strain and become targets of the very systems they are trying to change. In a community-based participatory…

A majority of youth in residential facilities such as residential children's treatment centers and juvenile justice facilities have a history of exposure to traumatic events, contributing to a multitude of long-term mental and physical concerns. Residential facility teachers and staff have the unique opportunity to create trauma-informed spaces -…

As the youth mentoring field has expanded since MENTOR's founding in 1990, so have the questions about the scope of mentoring relationships, who is finding the mentoring they need, and who is being left behind. MENTOR began its efforts to answer these questions almost a decade ago with the publication of "The Mentoring Effect…

A sense of belonging for any young person is core to the human experience--it encompasses how much a student feels accepted, respected, and included at school and in other contexts. For youth, adolescence is a time of exploration and one where they naturally wrestle with questions of belonging and sense of self as they transition to emerging…

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) invests in mentoring programs and services to help ensure positive outcomes for youth. Successful mentoring relationships have been shown to increase youth's self-esteem, improve academic achievement, and steer them away from delinquency, substance use, and other high-risk…