Research suggests participating in youth hands-on cooking programs, like those offered by Extension and 4-H, can improve nutrition behaviors and reduce the risk for obesity. We surveyed Georgia Extension professionals (n = 127) to explore factors (e.g., employee characteristics, resources, county demographics) related to offering youth hands-on…

College women are at more risk in terms of sexual behavior than male students. This study was carried out to determine the effect of the transtheoretical model-based Healthy Youth Program on college women's sexual health knowledge and behaviors. The sample of the study, which was conducted with a one-group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental…

The place of out-of-school time programming in supporting young people's learning and growth is well established. Yet little is known about the staff and volunteers who support young people in school- and community-based afterschool programs, summer camps, national and local youth-serving organizations, and more. The Youth Fields Workforce Study…

Academic achievement is one of the central outcomes targeted by all major models of youth development. Youth who succeed academically are well-positioned to thrive through meaningful careers, positions of community leadership, and fulfilling personal and family lives (Arnold, 2018). As such, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB)…

Critical reflective practice is a foundation of socially just pedagogy. This paper focuses on the informal STEM (science, technology, engineering, and maths) learning sector, where there is an acute shortage of support for critical reflective practice despite long-standing, entrenched issues of inequity. We analyse how practitioners used a new…

Historians of social studies and race have focused overwhelmingly on formal educational settings, textbooks, and curriculum, thereby overlooking the informal educational spaces valued by African Americans. This study examines civic education in informal settings by considering the educational programs of Black voluntary organizations. Hundreds of…

This study examined the program effectiveness of Health Rocks!, a youth substance use prevention program. Merging data from 128,544 youth participants in 21 states between 2009 and 2021, this study compared self-reported levels of knowledge, skills, and internal and external assets before and after the program. Youth reported significant increases…

Given the present-day threats to American democracy, Teachers College Press is publishing this federal report with new introductions by U.S. Senator Cory Booker and American historian Elizabeth Hinton. This complete edition of the Kerner report includes the full text, as well as important graphs, statistics, and supporting materials. The subject…

American democracy is at an inflection point. Will we stride toward the 22nd century with evidence and will? Or will we lurch fearfully backwards, reinscribing the white supremist domination of the 19th century? After hundreds of urban protests in the 1960s, the presidential Kerner Commission, composed mainly of privileged white men, concluded,…

The prevalence of mental health issues among youth, with nearly half meeting diagnostic criteria for a mental health disorder and suicide being a leading cause of death, underscores the urgency for effective intervention (National Institute of Mental Health, 2023). Summer camps, hosting millions of children annually, are urged by the American Camp…

Since its inception in 2011, Museum Teen Summit (MTS), a youth-led collective dedicated to better understanding and transforming the role of young people within museums, sought to act as a bridge between teens and cultural organizations. Over eight years, MTS built an impressive network of youth and adult professionals interested in specialized…

Although experts agree that diverse stakeholder inclusion enhances quality and equity in evaluation designs and implementation, diverse voices are often omitted. Particularly antithetical to principles of youth character development, evaluations for these programs should strive to include voices from various social, economic, community, and…

The First-Generation 4-H Youth Member (FG4-HYM) Intervention Framework is an organizational management perspective for preparing 4-H youth programs that supports the welcoming of youth and families that have no previous experience with the organization. Using the Bronfenbrenner ecological model, we explore the multiple layers of 4-H program…

A lack of academic and social readiness limits the successful transition to high school and college for many students from populations historically underrepresented in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) and historically underrepresented groups in biomedical careers (HUG). Also, many families from underrepresented groups share little…

This paper presents a practice-based enquiry exploring how photovoice methods can be adapted to visualise caring behaviours in multi-sited contexts, within an environment and peace education context. Photovoice methods typically have an exclusively single-sited focus that can neglect opportunities for empathy and cross-cultural engagement that…