In Brattleboro (Vermont), adventure activities contributed to efforts of the police department to move to a more cooperative model of community policing. Adventure-based workshops helped officers to build unified teams with common goals and develop trust, empathy, and communication skills, while police-sponsored adventure activities forged links…

Maintains that the mental "playground" of young people, the field of opportunities where they learn to grow into the person they are uniquely destined to become, has shrunk dramatically. Reflects on three models for youth ministry and religious education that can respond to this phenomenon. (MJP)

A weekly discussion group for high school students, held at a church before school, provided youth with a place to make connections across differences and to engage in stimulating debate with peers. Anecdotes illustrate how the youth group resisted unfair practices of adult authority while failing to openly recognize the power dynamics within the…

Provides an overview of the Intensive Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Program, a community-based, multi-agency, multimodal delinquency prevention program. Highlights how the six organizations involved in the program overcame three common barriers to interagency collaboration-funding, climate, and communication. (GCP)

Describes a survey conducted by the Washoe County (Nevada) Library to investigate youth services programs, using a planning grant from the DeWitt Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund, "Public Libraries as Partners in Youth Development". Discusses education and tutoring programs, including homework centers; career development and mentoring…

The Pribilof Islands Stewardship Program aims to preserve the rich species diversity of the islands and recover the sense of connectedness that once linked local Aleuts and their environment. The summer program draws on both science and traditional knowledge, offering Aleut youth the chance to assist scientists, protect the seals, and participate…

Attempts to determine research problems in the field of social work and to interpret them as a characteristic of that field. Stresses the double burden of pedagogics: to provide practical moral foundations and to provide reliable descriptions. Considers topics of major concern in research and practice in social work. (DSK)

Chicago's library and police partnership have created interactive programs for city youth. This article describes the partnership's Get Hooked on Fishing, Not Drugs program, Mystery Beat Book Club, Ghosts in the Graveyard and other art programs and discusses benefits for the children and participating organizations. (PEN)

Presents a method of evaluating youth programs in accordance to a youth development agenda. Surveys of black adolescents regarding after-school and school-day experiences, and of students from other after-school programs, indicate that only some after-school programs provide more youth development opportunities and supports than school-day…

Describes and evaluates Youth Leadership Broward, a Leadership training program provided for approximately 50 outstanding Broward County (Florida) juniors each year. Funded primarily by business, YLB is an eight-month program of structured activities that increases participants' knowledge of current issues and community resources and helps develop…

Relates the development of the Kairos retreat at Georgetown Preparatory School and the positive responses and experiences of male youths who attended. States that the retreat experience invites youth to grapple with adolescent fears of loneliness, embrace an adult faith, and facilitate a new openness between teens and their families. (VWC)

A Michigan program gives juvenile first-offenders in alcohol, drug, or tobacco crimes the option of completing a youth diversion program at a local camp as an alternative to traditional juvenile justice. Considerations for the camp included board support, compatibility with camp philosophy, and staff competence. The program has lower recidivism…

The Duke Youth Academy for Christian Formation attempts to join Freirean educational theory on contextual pedagogies with ancient Christian practices of the "ordo" toward the formation and theological education of Protestant Christian high school students. This article describes and reflects on the character and ultimately the success of this odd…

A powerful practical reclaiming strategy for youth at risk is to tap their potential for service to others. This counters a sense of learned helplessness. The term "learned helplessness" (Seligman, 1975) comes to mind when the author thinks about when she began working with troubled youth more than 20 years ago. Her and her co-workers often spoke…

Much has been written in recent years about the concept of empowerment, particularly as it relates to urban youth of color. The author agrees with Bemak et al.'s underlying premise that much of what is written about and practiced with respect to the empowerment of African American youth makes the assumption that counselors somehow empower young…