Too often, high school is a place that stifles creativity while fostering competition, conformity, intolerance, and the mean-spiritedness reflected in society. Students do not feel welcome and are caught in a developmental holding pattern. Proactive community-building efforts in Wisconsin and Colorado high schools are described. (MLH)

The Teen Involvement program is implemented primarily by youth, with guidance and direction from qualified, concerned adults. It aims at preventing substance abuse by utilizing positive youth-to-youth communications. Junior and senior high school students are trained to discusses causes of drug abuse and ways of preventing it with students in…

Describes a program in which adolescents are utilized as mental health workers, trained and supervised by professional mental health workers. Discusses recruitment of problem children and adolescent workers, features of the training programs, the role of adult leaders, and effects on participating children. (ED)

In the Life Skills Training program, teen leaders teach social skills to rural fifth- and sixth-grade children to help them resist drugs and alcohol in high school. Based on a Boys & Girls Clubs of America program, the 9-week after-school program provides youth with accurate information; teaches youth how to handle a range of problem…

This descriptive study examines the operation of youth mentoring programs in New York City. In particular, the study maps the experiences of developing and operating youth mentoring programs as articulated by the organizers or directors of 21 such programs; reviews and analyzes the research and descriptions of mentoring programs nationally to…