Youth living in violent urban neighborhoods increasingly post messages online from urban street corners. The decline of the digital divide and the proliferation of social media platforms connect youth to peer communities who may share experiences with neighborhood stress and trauma. Social media can also be used for targeted retribution when…

This report documents the implementation and early impacts of Year Up--a national sectoral training program for urban young adults aged 18-24. Operated by an organization of the same name, Year Up provides six months of full-time training in the IT and financial service sectors followed by six-month internships at major firms. The full-time…

Prosociality, conceptualized as a willingness to help, to be fair, and to be friendly to others, is essential to the maintenance of a civil society and has been linked with multiple measures of individual well-being. This study examines how individual, family, and neighborhood factors affect adolescents' level of prosociality and tests for…

We present the results of three large-scale randomized controlled trials (RCTs) carried out in Chicago, testing interventions to reduce crime and dropout by changing the decision-making of economically disadvantaged youth. We study a program called Becoming a Man (BAM), developed by the non-profit Youth Guidance, in two RCTs implemented in 2009-10…

This article uses a critical sociohistorical lens to discuss and explain examples of the ways in which young people reflect, refract, and contribute to discourses of gentrification, displacement, and racial, ethnic, and geographic community identity building in a rapidly changing urban neighborhood. The article explores examples from open-ended…

Students who fail algebra are significantly less likely to graduate on time, and algebra failure rates are consistently high in urban districts. Identifying effective credit recovery strategies is critical for getting students back on track. Online courses are now widely used for credit recovery, yet there is no rigorous evidence about the…

Students who fail algebra are significantly less likely to graduate on time, and algebra failure rates are consistently high in urban districts. Identifying effective credit recovery strategies is critical for getting students back on track. Online courses are now widely used for credit recovery, yet there is no rigorous evidence about the…

Behavioral trajectories during middle childhood are predictive of consequential outcomes later in life (e.g., substance abuse, violence). Social and emotional learning (SEL) programs are designed to promote trajectories that reflect both growth in positive behaviors and inhibited development of negative behaviors. The current study used growth…

As youth obesity rates remain at unacceptably high levels, particularly across underserved populations, the promotion of physical activity has become a focus of youth obesity prevention across the United States. Thus, the purpose of this study was to develop and test the reliability and validity of a self-reported questionnaire on home, school,…

DESCRIBED ARE APPROXIMATELY 55 VOCATIONAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS DEVELOPED BY THE MEMBER GREAT CITIES WITHIN THE PAST 2 YEARS. THE BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF EACH PROGRAM INCLUDES--THE YOUTH INVOLVED, PROGRAM FEATURES, PROGRAM GOALS AND/OR EVALUATIONS AND SOURCES FOR FURTHER INFORMATION. THE FOLLOWING ARE AMONG THE PROGRAMS REPORTED--JOB PREPARATION…

Used model of mediated effects to test processes of influence from parents' and teachers' expectations to sixth-grade outcomes. Results revealed that perceptions only partially mediated the effects of expectations to sixth-grade reading and math outcomes, yet added unique independent variance to these outcomes. Prior achievement emerged as…

In 1976, thousands of low-income African Americans, mostly women and children, began to move out of the public housing developments of Chicago, Illinois, to the mostly white middle class suburbs. These families were part of the Gautreaux program, one of the largest court-ordered desegregation efforts in the United States. This book tells the story…

Reviews articles about Chicago Longitudinal Study and determines that the key questions are: How are circumstances and outcomes linked? How strongly do circumstances affect outcomes? How can school psychologists use prevention research to improve the academic and social well-being of the children they serve? Suggests that school psychologists need…

Research was conducted to define methods for creating jobs for urban youth through small business expansion, particularly in Chicago. This report presents recommendations derived from the research. The first section suggests ways of increasing the effectiveness of Chicago's small business/neighborhood economic development efforts. The second…

This report covers a six-month sabbatical travel study of urban 4-H programs in 30 United States cities. The purpose of the study was to search for 4-H programs and methods which were being used successfully with urban boys and which might be adapted for use in other urban situations. Interviews with professional 4-H personnel, aides, and leaders…