Negotiating reform: young people's leadership in the educational arena

Youth organizing within the institutional context of community-based organizations has grown exponentially. Drawing on interviews with more than eighty organizers, youth, and educators, this article examines young people's experiences as they organize to expand educational opportunities for themselves and their peers in urban school districts. The authors explore educator responses to youth organizing and analyze how race- and class-based assumptions about youth leadership, as well as differing cultural norms between schools and youth organizing groups, pose challenges for young people fighting for education reform. The authors describe three strategies youth organizing groups use to address these challenges: intensive leadership development, targeted relationship building with district administrators, and alliance building. Implications for both educators and youth organizing groups are discussed.     

Foster home integration as a temporal indicator of relational well-being

This study sought to identify factors that contribute to the relational well-being of youth in substitute care. Using data from the Supporting Siblings in Foster Care (SIBS-FC) study, youth responded to a 9-item measure of positive home integration, a scale designed to assess the relational experiences of youth to their caregivers and their integration into the foster home. Data were collected from youth in six month intervals, for an 18-month period of time. Latent growth curve modeling procedures were employed to determine if child, family, and case characteristics influenced youth's home integration trajectories. Results suggest stability in youth reports of home integration over time; however, children who were older at the time of study enrollment and youth who experienced placement changes during the period of observation experienced decreased home integration during the 18-month period. Results suggest youth's perspectives of home integration may in part be a function of the child's developmental stage and their experiences with foster care placement instability. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.     

“Project awareness:” Fostering social justice youth development to counter youth experiences of housing instability,trauma and injustice

Housing instability poses a challenge for the positive developmental trajectories of youth. Nevertheless, youth possess the knowledge, fortitude and resiliency to meet the needs and challenges of navigating housing instability. Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) methods coupled with Social Justice Youth Development (SJYD) were utilized with 6 youth experiencing housing instability accessing educational, life skill, and developmental services from a drop-in center. Participants were active members of youth-centered research workshops. Findings reveal the need for increased funding that secures community-based, positive youth development services; an open, fluid workshop structure to offer consistency, yet flexibility for highly mobile youth; and safe spaces in which youth can explore and analyze the socio-political contexts shaping their experiences to inform their approaches in navigating various social systems and structures.     

It's good to know that you got somebody that's not going anywhere: Attitudes and beliefs of older youth in foster care about child welfare-based natural mentoring

This exploratory study is the first to investigate the attitudes and beliefs of older adolescents in foster care toward the implementation of a child welfare-based natural mentoring intervention designed to promote enduring, growth-fostering relationships between youth at risk of emancipation and caring, supportive nonparental adults from within the youth's existing social network. Six focus groups were conducted with 17 older youth in foster care attending a specialized charter high school for young people in out-of-home care in a large, urban city in the Northeast United States. Focus group data were transcribed and analyzed using a conventional content analysis approach. The following significant themes emerged related to natural mentoring for older foster youth emancipating from care: (1) need for permanent relationships with caring adults, (2) youth conceptions of natural mentoring, (3) unique challenges related to natural mentoring for youth in foster care, (4) role of a natural mentoring intervention in child welfare, and (5) challenges for implementing a child welfare-based natural mentoring intervention. Overall, our findings suggest that these young people are cautiously optimistic about the potential of a child welfare-based natural mentoring intervention to promote their social and emotional wellbeing. Future studies are needed to better understand the experiences of older foster youth with an actual natural mentoring intervention, including challenges, opportunities, and outcomes.     

Adolescence and Adult Work in the Twenty‐First Century

The transition from school to work is a story that meshes the life histories of youth and the economic and social development of societies. Drawing on reports from diverse regions of the world, this article describes the range of adolescent experiences as they encompass the completion of school and the commencement of adult work. As the 21st century begins, major threats to the preparation of youth for adult work include deficiencies in schools, hazards of the informal work sector, a lack of clear connections between school and work, and the misuse or underutilization of technology. Yet this transition is also a story of optimism, as the significance of youth for economic and social development is increasingly appreciated at the national and international levels. Accordingly, this article considers the broad policy implications of the survey and then details the lines of action that address challenges to the preparation of youth for adult work. Although many regions of the world share common challenges, the integration of youth into the 21st century world of work will depend on how each country formulates a unique response that is sensitive to its demographic profile, social institutions, cultural heritage, and economic conditions.     

Ideals and Reality: Perceptions of Healthy and Unhealthy Relationships Among Foster Youth

Exploring romantic relationships is a hallmark of adolescence. As dating relationships are often new during this development trajectory, learning how to be in a relationship (e.g., learning healthy communication skills, etc.) is necessary to facilitate positive partnerships during the transition to adulthood. However, foster youth are a group routinely overlooked within the literature on developing positive and healthy relationships. This formative, exploratory study utilizes focus groups and in-depth interviews to understand foster youth perceptions of healthy and unhealthy dating relationships through a social learning theory lens. Findings explore foster youth perceptions of ideal relationships, the realities of their lived relational experiences, as well as the lessons learned that they would like to impart on future generations of foster youth. Implications for research, practice, and policy (e.g., the need for communication skill building, comprehensive sex and relationship education, as well as screenings for dating violence) are also explored.     

An Intergenerational Approach to Informal Science Learning and Relationship Building

ABSTRACT

One of the challenges that affect educators in many fields is how to achieve and sustain participation in active learning throughout the life span. The SPRY (Setting Priorities for Retirement Years) Foundation addressed this challenge by creatively combining inquiry-learning techniques from informal (out of school/free choice) science education (ISE) with specially designed intergenerational programs that brought together youth and older adults for co-learning experiences. SPRY explored this concept by applying knowledge and techniques from SPRY's previous research in older adult learning to ISE topics. The results show impressive yields in social and cognitive benefits both for youth and older adult participants. doi:10.1300/J194v05n03_03     

“A Bad Combination”: Lived Experiences of Youth Involved in the Foster Care and Juvenile Justice Systems

Youth with involvement in foster care and the juvenile justice system, often called dual-status youth, are at increased risk for negative outcomes as they transition into adulthood, including homelessness, and involvement in the adult criminal justice system. Increase of interest in the phenomenon of youth dual involvement within the last decade, reveals focus on challenges associated with the dual-status population, the importance of multi-system collaboration, and foster care factors contributing to juvenile delinquency. This study aims to build on the current literature, through exploration of how dually-involved youth make sense of their experiences in the juvenile justice and foster care systems; and what youth believe are their unique challenges of being in two systems? This phenomenological study engaged ten individuals in Houston, Texas, between the ages of 18 and 24 years old, and previously involved in the juvenile justice and foster care systems. Research subjects participated in-depth, semi-structured, and audio-recorded interviews, disclosing their experiences in two systems. Interviews were transcribed and entered in the qualitative analytical program, Atlas.ti, where common themes of participant responses were extracted. Accounts from participants highlighted three key experiences: (1) experiences of and leading to dual involvement, (2) traumatic experiences, and (3) absence of normalcy. Study results are categorized based on their pathways to dual-involvement. This current study offers rich insights into how dually-involved youth make sense of their experiences in the foster care and juvenile justice systems. Implications for enhanced service provision among child welfare and juvenile justice professionals are offered.

     

Responding to the needs of youth who are homeless: Calling for politicized trauma-informed intervention

Trauma in the lives of youth who are homeless is a pervasive reality. In this article, a politicized understanding of trauma is taken up to explore the complex psychological, relational, and social/political challenges experienced by many young persons facing homelessness. Their needs are contrasted with the dominant framework for assessing and addressing homelessness among youth, which fails to adequately account for the effects of trauma in their lives. The authors argue for therapeutic approaches to address the negative effects of trauma; development of community services that adequately respond to the consequences of traumatic life experiences; and socially responsible policies that ensure provision of adequate services and also aim to address root causes of youth homelessness. While current conceptualizations of trauma-informed services go some distance toward achieving these goals, the authors argue that it is only by taking up a more radical understanding of trauma that interventions will be employed to better achieve these targets. Toward this end, the authors introduce a framework that integrates the SPECs model (Evans & Prilleltensky, 2007; Prilleltensky, 2005) with trauma-informed service provision, thereby infusing a social and political analysis to guide more effective trauma-informed solution building in response to the issue of youth homelessness.     

Using technology to engage and educate youth

Given that information age technologies are as natural to the Net generation as breathing, it is time to provide learning experiences that maximize their use in schools. The authors argue that integrating technology into learning is central to creating the meaningful learning opportunities needed to engage and motivate youth today. To achieve this potential, however, technology must support a new paradigm of teaching and learning. This chapter discusses common elements and challenges to implementing pioneering high school reform models that promote one-to-one student-computer ratios, collaborative learning environments, problem- and project-based instruction, and interdisciplinary teaching.     

Issues of shared parenting of LGBTQ children and youth in foster care: preparing foster parents for new roles

Foster parents have increasingly assumed new and challenging roles during the past decade. Meeting the developmental, attachment, and grieving needs of children and youth in out of home care is challenging by itself, but can become even more difficult with the issues that arise when the child is lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning (LGBTQ). Preservice and in-service foster parent training programs can strengthen shared parenting skills by focusing on the universal critical issues of safety, well being, and permanence for children and youth in foster care. This article will focus on these skill areas: (1) sharing parenting to promote healthy growth and development of LGBTQ youth in foster care, (2) threats to safety of LGBTQ youth in foster care, and (3) general challenges and strategies for preparing foster parents of LGBTQ youth to build support systems.     

How to integrate digital media into a drop-in for homeless young people for deepening relationships between youth and adults

This paper reports on a curriculum called New Tech for Youth Sessions, designed for homeless young people, aged 13-25. Motivated by the ordinariness of digital media and its importance in communicating with society's institutions, the primary goal of the curriculum was to develop students' life skills for information technology and digital media. A crucial secondary goal was to position students to recognize their self-worth, through meeting challenges, positive communication with adults, and reciprocal peer support. The paper describes how these goals were addressed by incorporating a community technology center into a multi-purpose drop-in for homeless young people and by a curriculum that guides students through an integrated series of activities related to finding employment. The paper discusses the principles underlying the curriculum, the class processes, and the social structure that supports the learning environment. A far-reaching result, based on offering 13 classes to over 75 youth over 16 months, is the hypothesis that instruction in digital media can create visceral, life-affirming experiences of challenges overcome, which can help strengthen relationships between the youth and the drop-in staff. The paper concludes with a discussion of lessons learned for incorporating digital media into drop-ins for enabling access and for improving life skills.     

Activities, engagement, and emotion in after-school programs (and elsewhere)

Experiences that are deeply engaging and enjoyable, engender full concentration, and present a balance between challenge and skill promote children's development. This chapter describes a study that sought to identify the kinds of settings and activities that foster engagement and, by extension, positive youth development. The after-school experiences of 191 ethnically diverse youth living in three states, some of whom participated in after-school programs and some of whom did not, were studied. Youth were equipped with logbooks and watches that were programmed to signal at random times. When signaled, youth recorded their location, social partners, activity, and feelings. The study found pervasive differences in the experiences at programs and elsewhere. Youth spent more time in academic and arts enrichment, organized sports and physical activities, community service, and homework at programs versus elsewhere, and they spent less time eating and watching TV at programs. They also reported higher levels of motivation, engagement, and positive affect at programs. At the same time, there were few differences in activities, emotions, effort, or motivation of program participants and nonparticipants when both groups were elsewhere. The similarities in these experiences while elsewhere suggest that the program context, not differences in youth characteristics or interests, was responsible for the feelings of engagement that were reported at programs.     

The experiences of adolescents and young adults residing with their families in emergency shelters in Canada

Emergency homeless shelters can be stressful environments for families. They can be associated with emotional distress and feelings of restriction for parents, and with behavioural, social, and developmental challenges for children. However, little is known about the experiences of accompanied youth residing in shelter with their families, as the literature about this age group's experiences of homelessness has mainly focused on unaccompanied youth. Findings from the current study are drawn from qualitative interviews with 16 adolescents and young adults (aged 16–21) who were homeless and living with their families in family homeless shelters in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Youth described family homeless shelters as stressful environments but also found that the shelters provided support to them and their families. Youth discussed the various strategies they used to cope in facing the challenges of shelter life. These findings add to our understanding of youth who are homeless and highlight the ways in which they adapt to the challenges of living in a family homeless shelter with their families. Recommendations are included for ways that shelter staff and policymakers can enact operational and systemic changes that could potentially improve the experiences of such youth and their families.     

Examples of sports-based youth development programs

The authors provide examples of sports-based youth development programs and offer information about program mission and vision, program design and content, evaluation results, and program sustainability. The four sports-based youth development programs presented are Harlem RBI, Tenacity, Snowsports Outreach Society, and Hoops & Leaders Basketball Camp. These programs serve diverse audiences with diverse missions, but all are focused on using sports to develop life skills and facilitate learning. Harlem RBI serves boys and girls ages seven to eighteen living in East Harlem. The program combines baseball, academic, and enrichment programs with the overall goal that participants who enter the program as vulnerable children graduate as resilient young adults. Tenacity, a nonprofit organization with headquarters in Boston, uses tennis to attract and retain students who particiate in a high-quality academic support and physical fitness program. The mission of Snowsports Outreach Society, based in Vail, Colorado, is building character in at-risk and underprivileged youth to develop their decision-making ability for healthy and successful life experiences. Hoops & Leaders Basketball Camp is a youth mentoring and leadership development program that offers summer camp experiences to improve the lives of at-risk urban youth in New York City. It uses the game of basketball to provide youth with caring mentors, develop leadership skills, and offer exposure to different educational and career paths.     

An Intergenerational Retreat Revisited

Abstract

This qualitative research focused on the residual impressions of an intergenerational storytelling group retreat 4 years after the initial experience. During the retreat 5 women, ages 62 to 80, met with 7 adolescent girls, ages 13 to 15, during a weekend of storytelling that focused on female development. This was a single-gendered experience of non-related participants. The women shared personal experiences from their youth around the topics that included dating and peer influence, fashions, and puberty. The adolescents also discussed, described, and reflected their own experiences with the women. At the time of the follow-up interviews the adolescents ranged in age from 17 to 19 and the women 66 to 84. The retreat experience positively influenced both the adolescents and the older women four years later by building self-confidence, increasing the tendency to engage in new endeavors, and to be more open to others different from themselves.     

Putting youth development into practice: learning from an innovative fellowship program

Professionals who work with youth can have a tremendous impact on the development and life trajectory of these young people. This article reports on an effort to provide support and professional development for those who work with youth during nonschool hours in a youth development fellowship program. Combining intensive residency workshops and a six-month coaching experience, the fellowship was designed to teach participants how to integrate youth resilience and youth development perspectives into their work. The evaluation collected data from the fellows and their coaches during the course of the program. The study offers insights into the types of benefits achieved through this type of focused intervention with youth workers, as well as the challenges of conducting such an effort.     

The nature and effectiveness of program models for adolescents at risk of entering the formal child protection system

This article compares rationales and outcome research for five areas of programming for adolescents: adolescent competence and skill development programs, family- and parent-focused programs, social integration programs, multiple component programs, and neighborhood transformation programs. The article examines program evidence for maltreated teens as well as teens coping with a variety of other challenges. The study uses a framework based on common developmental challenges and risk factors for adolescents to select and review programs.     

Comparing the Incomparable? Migrant Integration Policies and Perplexities of Comparison

This article examines the level of development of integration policies in the European Economic Area and the attempts to compare and standardize them. We discuss national integration models and policies based on the results of the Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX) and OECD/EU indicators of integration. Indicating the possible pitfalls of measuring and comparing integration policies, the results of researches into labour mobility and access to citizenship are examined. This comparative study shows that the indicators of immigrant integration are often at odds with the development level of integration policies, which results in their inadequate implementation in practice. Furthermore, EU countries face different challenges in the enactment of integration policies which spring from diverse (im)migration experiences, the scope of past migrations, and recent migratory flows. This is why integration policies should be re‐indexed, taking into consideration the particularities of (im)migration flows, the size of the immigrant population and other relevant factors.