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…

Many middle school and high school youth recognize the value of participating in organized activities outside school, yet too often they limit their involvement because of busy schedules and family lives, disinterest in existing activity choices, lack of motivation to attend organized activities or the lure of freedom or relaxation over structured…

In any assessment youth will only cooperate when they have a positive response to the adult seeking information. This article describes the components of a gender-sensitive needs assessment guide developed for youth workers to use in collaboration with youth. Young persons are seen as the best experts on their own lives.

Much has been written about the epistemological, theoretical and methodological bases of inclusive research, but how does it look in practice? This paper critically documents a participatory narrative approach to research with young people that, it is argued and demonstrated, foregrounds their agendas as critical researchers. The paper draws upon…

The Department of Education has issued final rules underscoring that school districts must accommodate the Boy Scouts of America and certain other youth groups that ask to use schools for meetings and recruitment. Schools risk loss of their federal education aid if they do not comply with the requirement included in the No Child Left Behind Act.…

This study examines the cultural and contextual factors that influence Latino participation in youth programs. Although youth programs are increasingly recognized for their positive influences, little is known about the factors that influence a young person's decision to participate. In this study, 67 Latino youth were asked about the reasons…

To make the transition to adulthood, youth must learn to function in the complex and unpredictable "real world" of adult life. This is an intensive case study of an urban arts program that sought to provide youth with experiences that prepared them for the real world of arts careers. We conducted 75 interviews with 12 youth and their adult leader…

The fall of the Berlin Wall rocked the sociopolitical equilibrium of eastern and central Europe. Communism lost its grip over much of Europe. The USSR, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia divided along ethnic, religious, and historical lines. Ethnopolitical tensions surfaced across the region, and in Yugoslavia, tensions combusted. Whereas democracy…

As practitioners and scholars working at a university-based training institute, the authors believe that adults working in youth development programs and helping youth gain an ethical understanding of the world must themselves adopt some principles of ethical practice and use them to practice three habits in their professional work: personal…

The youth development movement represents a broad trend toward promoting opportunity and resilience over preventing delinquency and failure. While the topic of youth leadership is clearly relevant to this movement, the connection between the two topics remains for the most part unexplored and undefined. With this chapter we examine the ways that…

The goals of this study were to (a) assess the outcomes of former foster care youth using transitional living programs and (b) compare outcomes achieved by former foster care youth who participated in an employment training program with similar youth who did not. The study sampled 23 former foster care youth using transitional living services in…

The original goals of youth sport were based on virtues of sportsmanship, fun, and friendship. In order to re-establish these principles and develop generations of youth devoted to the benefits of sport, we must revolutionize the way we administer and manage youth sports. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the usefulness of the Justplay…

The so-called "digital divide"--unequal access to information technology--is one of many social inequalities faced by individuals who are low-income, ethnic minorities, or immigrants. Surprisingly, the digital divide is even larger for young people than it is for adults, with African-American and Latino young people, as well as…

This chapter provides an international perspective on the promotion of positive development and the prevention of risky behavior among youth. We discuss some of the specific challenges that youth face in low- and middle-income countries and identify six key evidence-based policies and programs that aim to promote positive youth development and…