Andrea Faye Hart is a community journalist and teaching artist who experiments with citizen media to especially empower youth. She runs a civic media and a catharsis through media-making programs for Free Spirit Media, as well as a verse and investigative journalism program for Young Chicago Authors. In this article, as a teaching artist working…

Positive youth development and youth organizing are strengths-based approaches to the lives, needs, and contributions of young people (Damon & Gregory, 2003). These approaches privilege the voices of youth as they engage with issues in their communities and challenge institutions to respond. Few studies, however, have explored the role of…

When most people think about 4-H, they remember county fairs, livestock programs, and agricultural education. While these programs are still prominent, 4-H has grown in order to meet the growing demands of today's youth. The organization has expanded services and programs to serve rural, suburban, and urban youth in every state in the U.S. 4-H is…

More than 6,021 groups have been identified that work to bring peace to urban streets in constructive ways. Approaches that can help bring these groups together as exemplified by the Youth Peace Movement are discussed. The transcommunal approach of the Youth Peace Movement brings together many allies at the grass roots level. (SLD)

School reform leaders in Chicago (Illinois), Denver (Colorado), New York (New York), Seattle (Washington), Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), and Los Angeles (California) created the Cross City Campaign to work for the improvement of urban education so that all students are prepared for postsecondary education, work, and citizenship. This paper, from…

Although communities are making progress in establishing comprehensive systems for serving youth, they still face challenges. Enabling conditions that have allowed innovative youth councils to develop systems of youth development, education, and employment include: (1) youth opportunity grants; (2) established intermediary organizations; (3)…