Youth Development
This site serves as a forum for sharing ideas, a place to learn about approaches, strategies and research critical to youth work, and a source of information about upcoming events and opportunities.
Youth Will’s mission is to fight for every young person to have everything they need to be happy, healthy, and prepared to reach their full potential.
YU LEAD (Leadership Excellence and Development) is a one-year leadership program that prepares a team of YU members who have overcome significant challenges to become community leaders by turning their passion for community advocacy into a career. By combining intensive leadership trainings and community enhancing group projects, YU LEAD prepares youth to be change agents, while ensuring that they are fully prepared for college or full-time work.
YU LEAD represents the youth perspectives in program development and facilitation, opportunities to organize youth events, and community engagement strategies. Participants also receive extensive training to carry the voice of youth in public policy and planning processes.
We at YouthPower believe that young people are at the heart of solutions to the world’s greatest challenges. That’s why we’re dedicated to strengthening systems in communities to achieve sustainable outcomes in health, education, and political and economic empowerment. By helping young people pursue their aspirations, we empower them to contribute to, and benefit from, the creation of more peaceful and prosperous communities.
Promoting positive youth development (PYD)
YouthPower promotes a shared understanding of positive youth development (PYD) whereby young people are empowered to reach their full potential. PYD transitions away from problem-focused responses to youth crises, to proactively building skills, fostering healthy relationships, transforming systems, and making youth an active partner in development efforts.
Advancing youth development
YouthPower improves the ability of youth-led and youth-serving institutions to design, implement, and assess the programs and policies that impact young people. Using lessons from our own research and knowledge sharing, we support the scale-up of sustainable youth programs, within and across multiple sectors. We do this to equip young people to actively engage in the development of their communities.
Creating a learning network
YouthPower’s Learning Network connects youth-serving initiatives, community-based organizations, international donors, academics, and government entities engaged in improving the knowledge, skills, practices, and partnerships around positive youth development. Together we are united in our aim to support the transition of young people into healthy, productive adults.
Providing evidence, evaluation, and technical guidance
YouthPower conducts research, evaluates innovative youth programs, and disseminates information to expand the knowledge base on what does – and does not – work in youth development. By compiling and sharing resources that take an evidence-based approach, we provide practitioners and researchers with the necessary tools to continuously improve the effectiveness of youth development practices.
Website offers books, videos, trainings, and consulting on youth participation in decision-making process and free materials and technical assistance to young people on how to move their ideas into action.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) engages audiences in a community education program, Learning for Justice. This resource provides educators with free resources to encourage youth civic participation as well as to learn honest history, promote servant leadership, and move toward a racially and socially just society.
This collection of resources has been curated by SPLC to offer lessons for elementary and middle school classrooms that focus on elections and voting.
Volunteers of America provides people across the country with volunteer opportunities locally.
RHYTTAC’s resource library with various information sheets, tips, guides and more for educators, families, and runaway and homeless youth. All resources cover topics spanning from positive youth Development, best practices in LGBTQ homeless youth, and more.
This report looks at programs that have proven to be effective for youth development and employment. Through these summaries, the American Youth Policy Forum hopes to give youth professionals and policymakers an understanding of the principles and characteristics of successful youth development programs so that they may be replicated.
Research findings on evaluations of positive youth development programs.
This Changemaking Manual, created by Peace First, provides youth with a simple step-by-step guide to move through change processes within their communities. Resources also provided by Peace First include “The 3 Cs of Changemaking: Courage, Compassion, and Collaboration”, a resource that helps young leaders develop their personal self-awareness and values.
NRCYS is committed to providing you with timely, practical resources so that you can, in turn, provide the best care to the children, youth, and families you serve. They have confidence in their services and resources, because every year they speak to hundreds of youth, families, and youth care professionals about what works and what is needed to help children, youth, and families grow and thrive.