A central goal of U.S. social welfare policy is to ensure that all children have the opportunity to reach their full potential as productive adults. Yet it is increasingly clear that where children live plays a central role in determining their life chances. This paper provides an overview of The Urban Institute's Program on Neighborhoods and Youth Development, which is dedicated to understanding the relationships between neighborhood-level factors and the well-being and development of children and youth and identifying and evaluating place-based, community-wide strategies to help children grow up to reach their full potential as adults. Specifically, this paper first presents a brief overview of theory and research on how social and physical context affects the life chances of children and youth. It then discusses the goals and initial research agenda for the Program on Neighborhoods and Youth Development, including (1) better understanding the dimensions of neighborhood environments that lead to negative outcomes for children to develop targeted interventions; (2) drawing on lessons from our research on housing and community-based interventions to inform policy initiatives aimed at improving outcomes for youth, such as Choice Neighborhoods and Promise Zones; and (3) using primary and secondary data at the local and national levels to explore how place affects development, health, and risky behavior for children and youth. (Contains 1 note.)