"Every Child, Every Promise: Turning Failure into Action" is the first national research that comprehensively measures the presence of the essential resources that correlate with success in both youth and adulthood. The report indicates that there is much work to do as a nation. It also shows how failure can be turned into action to improve the…

The Child Welfare League of America is the nation's oldest and largest membership-based child welfare organization committed to engaging people everywhere in promoting the well-being of children, youth, and their families and protecting every child from harm. This issue of "The Link" contains the following articles: (1) Improving System…

Experiments in using outdoor education to affect juvenile development and deter crime abound. Most of these outdoor adventure programs use a setting of developed challenges and perceived risk situations in order to create a life-changing experience. However, these "adventures" remain contrived events and require significant interpretive…

This videotape presents the National Satellite Videoconference on mentoring for youth. The video opens with a discussion of mentoring and presents panelists who make statements about mentoring and youth programs and respond to questions called in by videoconference participants at approximately 500 downlinked sites. Panelists were: (1) Shay…

This manual for trainers of new mentors offers activities for 2 workshops that together add up to between 5-6 hours of training. The activities are intended for preservice training and designed to help participants: understand their role as mentors; develop necessary skills and attitudes; understand the concept of positive youth development; learn…

This digest examines the positive effects on emotional well-being of several types of outdoor education programs. Although many outdoor education and experiential programs enhance emotional growth, such "therapeutic" outcomes may be considered incidental to program goals. In contrast, programs aimed primarily at "therapy"…

This publication presents an overview of adolescent pregnancy, including national and state statistical information; funding sources for teen pregnancy prevention programs; examples of the effects of teen pregnancy prevention on society; illustrations of teenagers' perspectives on the issue; recent developments and initiatives in the arena of teen…

The greatest support offered by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention for youth mentoring has been through the Juvenile Mentoring Program (JUMP), which provides one-to-one mentoring for youth at risk of delinquency, gang involvement, educational failure, or dropping out of school. Information on JUMP has been collected through…

This report describes the economics of programs working to reduce crime in Washington State. For a variety of approaches, from prevention programs designed for young children to correctional interventions for juvenile and adult offenders, it systematically analyzes North American research studies from the past 25 years. For this review, the…

Outdoor behavioral healthcare (OBH) is an emerging mental health intervention/treatment to help adolescents overcome emotional, psychological, and addiction problems. Currently, over 100 OBH programs in the United States use elements of wilderness therapy to address adolescents' problem behaviors and foster responsibility and personal growth.…

The mentoring of youth by adults has been identified as one of the more promising program approaches to promoting positive youth outcomes. This synthesis examines the role that mentoring plays in helping youth develop a broad array of strengths and capacities related to: (1) education and cognitive attainment; (2) health and safety; (3) social and…

This document summarizes findings from the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention's National Cross-Site Evaluation of High-Risk Youth Programs, which identified characteristics associated with strong substance abuse prevention outcomes in 48 prevention programs. It provides concrete guidance regarding what elements of design and implementation are…

There is considerable literature to indicate that mentoring relationships support the healthy development of children and youth by reducing risky behaviors, and the number of mentoring programs has increased dramatically in recent years. This California Research Bureau report examines the research literature evaluating the effectiveness of…

This study explores the value-oriented behaviors associated with membership in prominent youth organizations in the Soviet Union and the United States of America during the Cold War. The archetypal heroic ideals and values of the Soviet Octoberists and Pioneers and the U.S. Boy Scout and Girl Scout organizations were examined. Key political,…

Increasingly, out-of-school time programs are being asked to provide data that documents their progress and demonstrates their results. But for many OST programs and their over-worked staff this added responsibility is the "straw that broke the camel?s back." Across the country there is a cry from programs for help in deciding what to measure and…