Urban youth participation in agricultural activities has been linked to positive educational outcomes. This article explores the gender and racial differences in perceived knowledge gain and intended behavior change among youths participating in a youth urban agriculture workshop in 2015. Participants were students from underserved areas in…

The current field of Israel engagement has been significantly challenged by young North American Jews' reported alienation from contemporary Israel. Literature in the last decade has addressed this challenge in depth, offering a wide variety of theoretical analyses and recommendations for program development. The present study is the first to…

The case study research reported in this paper followed the iterative design trajectory of youth game designers (ages 11-17) in a week-long summer game design camp, focused on the fundamentals of video game design. Drawing on data from a daily conceptual pitch and feedback activity, the research team traced the iterative design trajectory for one…

Policymakers at the state and federal levels have expressed concern over the emerging "skills gap"--the mismatch between the job skills employers are looking for and the skills that applicants in the labor market possess. The skills gap is most acute for middle-skilled jobs; that is, jobs that require training beyond high school but less…

Youth arts and humanities programs are providing invaluable learning opportunities for youth participants to become what we term "homegrown teaching artists." After several years of artistic and pedagogic development, these alumni teach youth in the same programs where they were once participants. This phenomenon has emerged at the same…

Choose and Tell is a curriculum for 4-H Cloverbud members that introduces them to public speaking and life skill enhancement (communication and social interaction). Choose and Tell consists of activity cards analogous to a deck of cards. Activity card titles include Wash and Comb Your Hair, Plant a Seed, and Floss Your Teeth. The activities are…

The concept of a "healthful home" offers the basis for a comprehensive approach to addressing the well-established relationship between health and housing. Many environmental health hazards found in homes--such as lead, mold, environmental tobacco smoke, and pesticides--can be reduced or eliminated through the use of scientifically…

Dances and drum rhythms from African traditions have been integrated into summer camp activities in the United States as a response to the ever-globalized environments in which these camps are located and the diversity of the campers and teachers that they attract. This reflective article draws on critical reflections, observations and experiences…

Entrepreneurship is widely recognized as a driver of rural economic growth and community vitality. Nebraska Extension personnel developed a youth entrepreneurship curriculum--EntrepreneurShip Investigation (ESI)--for middle and high school students. This curriculum has been used at 4-H summer camps, for formal classroom and out-of-school…

Understanding resources available in a community is essential before any 4-H youth development professional can begin addressing local needs. Conducting a community assessment generates valuable information about the unique components and resources of a specific community. This information then provides a foundation for identifying specific…

Many low-income young people are not reaching important milestones for success (for example, completing a program or graduating from school on time). But the social-service organizations and schools that serve them often struggle to identify who is at more or less risk. These institutions often either over- or underestimate risk, missing…

In recent years, nurture groups (NGs) have maintained a positive growth whereas targeted youth work in schools has diminished. Transition into secondary education is a crucial time for a young person, and this research examines the crossovers between youth work and nurture groups, exploring how these interventions support transition for young…

Youth workers provide services to youth and their families in different fields such as recreation, social justice, mental health. They play an important role in the well-being of youth and thus, mental health literacy (MHL) should be an integral part of professional preparation. The present grounded theory study examined how a MHL curriculum,…

This research was aimed to develop multimedia and activities to enhance knowledge about arts and cultures for community youths through social lab at the community under the bridge zone 1, to determine the quality of the multimedia and activities, to examine the learning achievement of the community youths, to evaluate the satisfaction of the…

This article describes how a federally funded afterschool program serving an elementary-age population in a rural southern community used the creative affordances of Minecraft and a creative youth development (CYD) framework to support the local school district's character education program, The Leader in Me (LiM). On receipt of a 21st Century…