Lessons worth noting from existing community-service programs include the importance of reciprocity and benefit to the volunteer; accountability to the community; youth leadership; a multigenerational approach; crossing the color line; and open mindedness. The service movement provides real possibilities for mutual advantage. (SLD)

Describes a pilot program designed to create a peer network and cultural environment that promotes academic achievement and attainment among minority students. The program is based on the relationship between self-esteem, self-efficacy, and achievement motivation. (CH)

Through participation in community service programs, adolescents assume meaningful roles and respond to real needs of their society as well as to their own need to be needed. Presents arguments for expanding opportunities for young adolescents to contribute actively to the community, including incorporation of community service in the curriculum.…

Service learning, currently popular among communitarian-minded American educators, recently received a large dose of political legitimacy in "What You Can Do for Your Country," the report of the Commission on National and Community Service. This article examines the commission's proposal and explores, through a case study of urban school…

Describes the 10-year-old Washington Urban League-District of Columbia Public Schools program, Operation Rescue, a program of continuing support of the instructional goals of the school system. The project demonstrates that a school-community partnership can bring great talent and resources to local school systems. (JB)

Describes studies of two rural programs for diverting status offenders from court system to alternative community programs. Examines communities and programs, suggests rural offender characteristics are similar to urban ones. Recommends development of community-based alternatives to child welfare and juvenile justice systems. (TES)

Social-historical lineages of adolescent alcohol and other drug use prevention programs are examined, tracing risk factor research from assumptions of deviance regarding the mentally ill and considering patterns that have inhibited advances in prevention. To achieve program success, protective factor and harm reduction approaches must be explored.…

Describes the development of a New Jersey adventure program for homeless teenagers. Discusses the developmental tasks of adolescence--separating from family, forging a healthy sexual identity, preparing for the future, and developing a moral value system--and the positive impacts of adventure on these tasks. Addresses the issue of closure and…

Recounts working with a young client in the Serious Habitual Offender Comprehensive Action Program. Client's reflections offer insight into how youth can use significant events in their lives as pathways to more antisocial behavior. Includes Rolf Loeber's (1990) developmental model that describes how children progress from disruptive to criminal…

Pilot study examined efforts to promote bonding of socially disengaged youth into conventional mainstream by integrating them with conventional youth on a service project. Ninth-graders (N=42) in four schools achieved significant improvements in attendance, achievement, ratings of social-academic competence and conventionality. Findings lend…

Describes an adventure program operated on the Qualla Boundary Cherokee reservation that serves Cherokee youth and outside groups interested in Cherokee culture. Aspects of Cherokee culture, such as talking circles and storytelling, are incorporated into the program. A sidebar recounts the story of a bear encounter that is used to begin many…

Describes the current situation of adventure education in Germany. Discusses sites in schools and youth clubs, important carriers of adventure education in Germany, popular methods and activities, the concept of "metaphorical learning" as a means of transferring learning to everyday life, publications, principles of experiential…

Presents results of a membership survey of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). Highlights include the diversity of members; concern for access to information; interest in continuing education activities; and public relations needs. The survey instrument, with summary statistics, is appended. (LRW)

Habits and entrenched behavior patterns are difficult to change, particularly for problem children and adolescents. Youth programs in the Netherlands have had success with this population using outdoor adventure experiences. A model of facilitation of behavior change consists of assessment of basic needs, basic rules, experiential environment, the…

Describes the YouthBuild program in Fayette County, West Virginia, a federally funded program administered locally by the Southern Appalachian Labor School. Participants are unemployed youths aged 16-24, mostly school dropouts, who alternate between 1 week of training in repairing and building houses and 1 week studying for a GED or preparing for…