This paper presents a panel discussion, moderated by Kelly Campbell (a partner at Bridgespan), as part of Bridgespan's 10th anniversary celebration held in May 2010. The topic for conversation was "Progress and Challenges in the Youth Development Field." The invited panelists included: Earl Martin Phalen, co-founder of "BELL" and president of both "Reach Out and Read" and "Summer Advantage USA;" Bruce Lesley, president of "First Focus;" and Dan Cardinali, president of "Communities in Schools." Participants in the panel discussion agreed that: (1) Nonprofit leaders and volunteers, policy makers, advocates, and philanthropists need to adopt a holistic approach to raising our nation's young people and preparing them for successful adulthood; (2) Initiatives to strengthen the education system, ensure health care for children, attend to their social development, and other efforts have existed in silos; (3) Definite progress has been made over the past 10 years in bridging the gaps, panelists said, but there is a need to get beyond the "youth as victim" narrative being used, and shift to a unifying approach; and (4) to invest in a critical key to change: parents.