This edited text focuses on positive approaches to youth development that are rapidly supplanting the traditional deficit-oriented, problem-reduction approach. The book addresses the question; what does it take to create a community that will promote the positive opportunities that can optimize the development of all young people? The book draws together the perspectives of top names and programs in positive youth development, thus assuring readers of authoritative, cutting-edge coverage.
In this landmark study, authors Stan Davis and Charisse L. Nixon add youth voices to the national debate about bullying and peer mistreatment. Provided in these pages is a detailed analysis of findings from their survey of over 13,000 students across 31 schools in the United States¿plus suggestions for meaningful change based on students¿ responses.Youth Voice Project includes an overview of the project¿s rationale and methodology, a description of the characteristics and impact of peer mistreatment, and an analysis of the effectiveness of various types of response to peer mistreatment: self-actions, peer-actions, and adult actions.Students¿ views of what works¿and doesn¿t work¿in response to bullying are enlightening and sometimes surprising: When asked what made things better or worse in a bullying situation, youth reported that actions involving peer alliance and friendship made things better and that it was effective to access help from others. However, some classic adult advice for youth on bullying, such as ¿telling them to stop¿ and ¿telling them how they're making you feel,¿ could actually make things much worse.Bridging the gap between research and practice, the text offers much-needed direction for educators, administrators, parents, and all other stakeholders. Conclusions focus on ways to make schools safe, inclusive, and supportive environments for learning¿specifically, by promoting efforts to improve school connections, social equity, and what the authors call the ¿Four Rs¿: respect, relationships, resiliency, and responsiveness.
After-school programs, scout groups, community service activities, religious youth groups, and other community-based activities have long been thought to play a key role in the lives of adolescents. But what do we know about the role of such programs for today's adolescents? How can we ensure that programs are designed to successfully meet young people's developmental needs and help them become healthy, happy, and productive adults? Community Programs to Promote Youth Development explores these questions, focusing on essential elements of adolescent well-being and healthy development. It offers recommendations for policy, practice, and research to ensure that programs are well designed to meet young people's developmental needs. The book also discusses the features of programs that can contribute to a successful transition from adolescence to adulthood. It examines what we know about the current landscape of youth development programs for America's youth, as well as how these programs are meeting their diverse needs. Recognizing the importance of adolescence as a period of transition to adulthood, Community Programs to Promote Youth Development offers authoritative guidance to policy makers, practitioners, researchers, and other key stakeholders on the role of youth development programs to promote the healthy development and well-being of the nation's youth.
The integration of digital technologies into practice presents opportunities and challenges for the field of youth work. Digitalization procedures transform interactions with users, in addition to their needs. These also transform the organizations where youth workers are involved in professional practice. Adapting digital technological tools is a crucial challenge for the youth work profession. Youth Work in a Digital Society is an essential scholarly publication that explores how to overcome any challenges and issues facing youth development work in the digital age and to what extent modern digital technologies can contribute to empowering youth work practice. Featuring a wide range of topics such as digital inclusion, mobile technologies, and social media, this book is ideal for executives, managers, researchers, professionals, academicians, policymakers, practitioners, and students.
Young adulthood - ages approximately 18 to 26 - is a critical period of development with long-lasting implications for a person's economic security, health and well-being. Young adults are key contributors to the nation's workforce and military services and, since many are parents, to the healthy development of the next generation. Although 'millennials' have received attention in the popular media in recent years, young adults are too rarely treated as a distinct population in policy, programs, and research. Instead, they are often grouped with adolescents or, more often, with all adults. Currently, the nation is experiencing economic restructuring, widening inequality, a rapidly rising ratio of older adults, and an increasingly diverse population. The possible transformative effects of these features make focus on young adults especially important. A systematic approach to understanding and responding to the unique circumstances and needs of today's young adults can help to pave the way to a more productive and equitable tomorrow for young adults in particular and our society at large. Investing in The Health and Well-Being of Young Adults describes what is meant by the term young adulthood, who young adults are, what they are doing, and what they need. This study recommends actions that nonprofit programs and federal, state, and local agencies can take to help young adults make a successful transition from adolescence to adulthood. According to this report, young adults should be considered as a separate group from adolescents and older adults. Investing in The Health and Well-Being of Young Adults makes the case that increased efforts to improve high school and college graduate rates and education and workforce development systems that are more closely tied to high-demand economic sectors will help this age group achieve greater opportunity and success. The report also discusses the health status of young adults and makes recommendations to develop evidence-based practices for young adults for medical and behavioral health, including preventions. What happens during the young adult years has profound implications for the rest of the life course, and the stability and progress of society at large depends on how any cohort of young adults fares as a whole. Investing in The Health and Well-Being of Young Adults will provide a roadmap to improving outcomes for this age group as they transition from adolescence to adulthood.
Describes the CATE method for integrating outcome-based planning and evaluation into library programs and services for young patrons, and looks at how it worked at the St. Louis Public Library.
OUR DEAR YOUNG MEN AND YOUNG WOMEN, we have great confidence in you. You are beloved sons and daughters of God and He is mindful of you. You have come to earth at a time of great opportunities and also of great challenges. The standards in this booklet will help you with the important choices you are making now and will yet make in the future. We promise that as you keep the covenants you have made and these standards, you will be blessed with the companionship of the Holy Ghost, your faith and testimony will grow stronger, and you will enjoy increasing happiness.
"In recent years, the fields of psychology and human development have focused growing attention on issues of positive youth development. . . . This volume provides a tool that can be used by researchers, practitioners, and policy makers alike to build collective efforts to enhance the well-being of youth. . . . Professor Hamilton is one of the most respected scholars in the country. There is no doubt in my mind that this volume will not only make a significant contribution in the field, but more important, that it is a volume that will be utilized across disciplines and professions." —Francisco A. Villarruel, Michigan State University "The conceptualization and comprehensiveness are excellent. The book also deals with a newly emerging and exciting field and hence is at the forefront of research, policy, and practice. . . . a useful resource." —Lonnie Sherrod, Fordham University "Both timely and potentially very useful...nothing nearly as inclusive as this youth development handbook now exists." —John Kretzmann, Northwestern University "A handbook like this is a good idea because of the interest in communities and colleges in this topic and because of the number of programs being developed targeted at adolescents. . . . I believe the book will serve as a useful reference for scholars, policy makers, and program development specialists. . . . There are no other comparable resources that focus on exemplary programs and community development issues." —Philip Newman, University of Rhode Island What are the types of environments in which youth thrive? How do we cultivate such environments to promote optimal development and positive behavior in youth? The Youth Development Handbook: Coming of Age in American Communities provides youth and development practitioners access to current theory and research in the field of youth development, including illustrations of good practice, original case studies, and a contextual approach to such topics as youth participation and diversity. Because youth practitioners typically identify themselves with one or more contexts, such as youth-serving organizations or faith-based organizations, editors Stephen F. Hamilton and Mary Agnes Hamilton have arranged the book so that each chapter explores the application of youth development principles to its context, drawing on current research. Part I of the book is organized around contexts in which adolescents grow up, such as schools, workplaces, families, peer groups, youth-serving organizations, faith-based organizations, recreation groups, juvenile courts, health clinics, neighborhoods, and cyberspace. Part II addresses broader issues such as evaluation, funding, and community-wide initiatives and the concluding chapter identifies themes that cut across contexts, including mentoring, universal vs. targeted approaches, and evidence-based practice. Features of this volume: Chapters written expressly for the book by established scholars committed to learning from the field and making research useful to practitioners in everyday life. Rather than a "how-to" guide, the book is a source of information and ideas for use in planning programs, training practitioners, and understanding the perspectives of partners in community collaborations. Original case studies provide illustrations of good practice in working with youth to optimize growth and development in varied settings such as the family, school, youth organizations, and workplaces. Serves as both a useful reference and as a "state of the art" account of youth development as a field. The Youth Development Handbook is designed for scholars and researchers in applied developmental science as well as practitioners and policy makers who implement youth development initiatives. The book is also recommended for use in graduate courses on youth development in the fields of Psychology, Human Development & Family Studies, and Education.
