This article discusses the role of play and imagination in three urban settings: an ELA classroom, a community organization grounded in civic participation, and a digital learning lab in a library setting. We draw on sociocultural theories of imagination to show that all of the affordances and constraints of the settings contribute to what could…

The Atlanta Urban Debate League was established in 1985 as an after school program focused on providing debate outreach to high school students in the Atlanta public schools. Still in operation today, volunteers work with current students in public middle and high schools in Atlanta, supporting students as they practice reading, writing, speaking…

This study profiles tutoring programs that empower urban youth within the Regional Institute of Tutorial Education (RITE), a community collaborative of universities, youth agencies, community service organizations, and school districts. Representative members of RITE detail how they address shared urban problems of academic deficits, school…

Recent attention to youth activism for school reform reveals positive student outcomes. Yet educators may object to the use of social actions in schools, diminishing opportunities for these benefits to accrue. This paper analyzes educators' conceptions about the proper exercise of student voice within schools and how these coincide with…

After-school programs (ASPs) are learning centers that provide enrichment opportunities after regular school hours. This article examines the value these programs can add to a child's educational day, especially for urban youth who are vulnerable during after-school hours. Quality ASPs can be part of the solution to help mitigate the effects of…

Physical education time has been reduced or even eliminated in middle and high schools in favor of more time for standardized test preparation, especially in urban schools and inner cities. One way to replace the time lost is by providing it after school as part of a comprehensive program. After-School All-Stars (ASAS) is such a program, networked…

In the 1992 amendments to the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, Congress established incentive grants for local delinquency prevention programs, know as the Community Prevention Grants Program. This report is the third annual report on this program, which provides the framework, tools, and funding for communities to help divert…

This booklet is a guide to setting up a formal mentor program in the community. Mentor programs can take many shapes, whether sponsored through the schools, by businesses, or by churches and volunteer agencies. Like any operation, a volunteer mentor program has various management functions. The planning function sets a mission statement, goals,…

This digest briefly discusses some ways to involve families in their children's drug prevention education. Helping children and teenagers stay away from drugs and those who use and sell drugs is an important job in which parents and other close relatives play the most important role. Because youth experiment with drugs for the same reasons they…

This publication documents a participatory assessment project conducted from 1993 to 1995 with four afterschool programs in New York City. Key questions were whether the assessment project would develop the capacity of program staff to assess their own projects and whether the programs were successful in supporting the literacy development of the…

Presents a conceptual framework from Cleveland's (Ohio) George Gund Foundation youth violence prevention initiative to assist planners and funders effectively and creatively address youth violence in their communities. It presents an overview of current approaches to youth violence and treatment and a means for identifying, categorizing, and…

Presents findings of a study that focused on two "I Have a Dream" programs. Identifies factors related to the demonstrated success, including high school graduation rates, of these 2 programs in comparison with 10 others and discusses the importance of social capital in the support of youth in inner-city contexts. (SLD)

The three essays of this collection explore the prevention of violence in urban schools. The first, "Preventing Violence in Schools," by Mary Hatwood Futrell and Lee Etta Powell, focuses on how to prevent violence in schools and offers recommendations on what schools and communities can do. The factors contributing to school violence are…

An evaluation of the International Youth Leadership Institute (IYLI), summarized in this IUME Brief, helps fill the gaps in knowledge about how youth programs help Blacks and Latinos negotiate their adolescence and attempt to form an integrated sense of self. IYLI, founded in 1989, is an academic leadership development program for Black and Latino…

This booklet reviews historical, social, and developmental information about young black males as well as strategies for change and examples of successful programs. The text is based on a 1-day conference on at-risk young black men. The first section sketches the conditions of inner-city black families from the earlier decades of the century to…