This book addresses family literacy as a theoretically sound field of research and practice that can be used to improve literacy worldwide. The book's 14 chapters are divided into four sections. Following the "Introduction" (Andrea DeBruin-Parecki and Barbara Krol-Sinclair), under Section I--Theoretical Perspectives Related to Family…

The government of Canada announced in the October 2004 Speech from the Throne that it will move ahead with its long-awaited national childcare program. In early 2005, federal, provincial and territorial ministers will meet to forge a deal for a national childcare program. The national Advisory Committee on Rural Issues applauds this attention to…

Since 1992, Vermont has been pioneering the development of community partnerships for improving social well-being, using indicators to track success. The working definition of a community, for outcome purposes, is the area served by a school supervisory union. Vermont is divided into 60 such supervisory unions (school districts), but…

This report describes lessons learned over the initial 3 years of the implementation of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's SafeFutures Program To Reduce Juvenile Delinquency and Youth Violence, a 5-year demonstration initiative designed to prevent and control juvenile delinquency through a continuum of care in communities.…

The data and analyses presented in this paper were the result of an 18-month study of a university-community-agency partnership. The purpose of the project was to develop the community's capacity to own and operate a community center that would provide a wide range of services and respond to the future needs of the community. The university team…

Although substance abuse affects the family, the children of substance abusers suffer the most. When parents are unable to care for their children because of their untreated addiction, the children are at risk for social and health problems that include alcohol and drug use, delinquency, depression, and poor school performance. One approach to…

Noting the renewed attention given to community efforts supporting after-school activities to promote social competence in its youth, this book examines the concepts of play and rites of passage for youth. The book also discusses the contributions of various types of activities on youth social competency, presents a variety of perspectives for…

This policy report explores the expanding role of Tribal colleges and Universities in serving local communities and examines the challenges and successes in some specific areas of involvement. The report is the fourth in a series under the Tribal College Research and Database Initiative, which has collected data over the last 3 years regarding…

In response to growing public understanding of the importance of quality care and activities during out-of-school hours for children's healthy development, a variety of out-of-school initiatives are being implemented across the country. This guide is designed to provide policy makers, program leaders, system-building advocates, and others with…

Plain Talk is an approach to teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease prevention that enlists a broad section of community adults in the effort to protect teens from pregnancy and disease. The Plain Talk design called for creation of community consensus around the needs of youth by focusing on adults, both as recipients of accurate…

Over 1,000 colleges and universities have joined the America Reads initiative and have placed Federal Work-Study students in high-needs schools, the majority in urban settings. Few outside the reading field recognize the complexities associated with instruction for emergent readers, particularly for students who arrive at school with few literacy…

This report describes youth employment and training programs run by the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) in summer 1999. The MPRB operates the Teen Teamworks program, which helps teens acquire appreciation for connections between academic, social, judgment, and job skills. MPRB has identified changing social and economic needs as a…

The chapters in this collection, distributed to conference participants as a springboard for conference discussions, consider sustainable models for school-family-community collaboration, partnerships in education, and other ways to improve learning for urban youth. The contributions are: (1) "The Empowerment Zone and Enterprise Community"…

Community-based organizations that worked effectively with urban youth were found to resemble experiential education programs. The finding was remarkable because the organizations did not identify themselves as places where experiential education took place. A study of four organizations examined ways in which they help youth to become more…

Educational partnerships are an important strategy for increasing the authenticity and value of school for future citizens. In addition to the financial benefits that school-business partnerships bring to schools, there are a variety of teaching and learning benefits of making links with the community. This report outlines reasons why schools,…