Practices and Current Directions
The University of Minnesota's Keys to Quality Youth Development summarizes eight key elements of programs that successfully promote positive youth development. Such programs are physically and emotionally safe, give youth a sense of belonging and ownership and foster their self-worth, allow them to discover their 'self' (identity, interests, strengths), foster high quality and supportive relations with peers and adults, help youth recognize conflicting values and develop their own, foster the development of new skills, have fun, and have hope for the future.
Major reviews focusing on the historical antecedents of current efforts, key elements of effective practice, gaps in the literature, and successful programmatic efforts have been published by the National Academy Press, the US Dept. of Health and Human Services, the Forum for Youth Investment, and the W.T. Grant Foundations work on mentoring. Other important international organizations include The European Knowledge Centre for Youth Policy and the Australian Clearinghouse for Youth Studies. Other important reviews include Positive Youth Development in the United States: Research findings on evaluations of positive youth development programs. Organizations such as the Search Institute have developed both guidelines for youth-serving agencies that promote positive development and instruments to assess their success. The W.T. Grant Foundation's From Soft Skills To Hard Data is also relevant.
Read more about this topic: Positive Youth Development
Famous quotes containing the words practices and, practices, current and/or directions:
“To learn a vocation, you also have to learn the frauds it practices and the promises it breaks.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“Money made through dishonest practices will not last long.”
—Chinese proverb.
“We set up a certain aim, and put ourselves of our own will into the power of a certain current. Once having done that, we find ourselves committed to usages and customs which we had not before fully known, but from which we cannot depart without giving up the end which we have chosen. But we have no right, therefore, to claim that we are under the yoke of necessity. We might as well say that the man whom we see struggling vainly in the current of Niagara could not have helped jumping in.”
—Anna C. Brackett (1836–1911)
““Have we any control over being born?,” my friend asked in despair. “No, the job is done for us while we’re sleeping, so to speak, and when we wake up everything is all set. We merely appear, like an ornate celebrity wheeled out in a wheelchair.” “I don’t remember,” my friend claimed. “No need to,” I said: “what need have us free-loaders for any special alertness? We’re done for.””
—Marvin Cohen, U.S. author and humorist. The Self-Devoted Friend, New Directions (1967)