Research and Resources
The field of youth development is thriving in the State of Minnesota!
SEARCH BELOW for resources that you can use in your community!
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RESEARCH
Every Child, Every Promise: Turning Failure Into Action, is a comprehensive study by the America’s Promise Alliance. It measured the presence of the essential resources – the Five Promises – and their correlation with success in both youth and adulthood. The report shows how we can turn failure into action and improve the lives of young people at risk.
Child Trends is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research center that studies children at all stages of development. Their mission is to improve outcomes for children by providing research, data, and analysis to the people and institutions whose decisions and actions affect children, including program providers, the policy community, researchers and educators, and the media.
Harvard Family Research Project
The Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP) team of researchers focuses on three components of children’s learning and development: complementary learning, family involvement in education, and out-of-school time.
Kids Count is a national and state-by-state project of the Casey Foundation to track the status of children in the United States. At the national level, the principal activity of the initiative is the publication of the annual Kids Count Data Book, which uses the best available data to measure the educational, social, economic, and physical well-being of children state by state. By providing policymakers and citizens with benchmarks of child well-being, Kids Count seeks to enrich local, state, and national discussions of ways to secure better futures for all children.
Volunteering in America conducts research to see how states and cities rank on different factors related to volunteering. This document highlights some of the key findings from that data and provides access to volunteering trends, statistics, tools, resources, and other information. In addition, the Volunteering in America website contains links to a number of other useful resources — including research reports, proven strategies, and effective practices — that are designed to help local nonprofit leaders target their recruiting efforts more effectively, match local programs with available volunteer resources, fill service gaps, and do a better job of retaining their volunteers.
See the latest youth development research from the Youth Work Institute. Learn how to use it in your daily practice. The Youth Work Institute supports the education, training, and professional development of adults who work with and on behalf of young people. Discover how to achieve the best youth outcomes.
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RESOURCES
Corporation for National and Community Service
The Corporation for National and Community Service acts as a catalyst by providing strategic critical support to volunteer organizations that, in turn, deliver much-needed services to communities throughout the country.
The Forum for Youth Investment is a nonprofit, nonpartisan “action tank” dedicated to helping communities and the nation make sure all young people are Ready by 21®: ready for college, work and life.
Search Institute is a leader in the positive youth development field, and draws on 50 years of experience to provide research-based advice to parents, schools, organizations, and communities on how to raise healthy, caring, responsible kids. The 40 Developmental Assets framework, the single most widely used approach to positive youth development in the United States, was developed by this organization.
The Serve America Act is landmark legislation that charges the Corporation for National and Community Service and partners to dramatically expand opportunities for Americans to serve, to focus on critical national issues, to be a catalyst for social innovation, and to support the nonprofit sector. The law both expands on existing programs and creates new initiatives to increase service opportunities and strengthen our civic infrastructure.
“United We Serve” is a nationwide service initiative that aims to both expand the impact of existing organizations by engaging new volunteers in their work and encourage volunteers to develop their own “do-it-yourself” projects.
Youth Work Institute: University of Minnesota Extension
The Youth Work Institute offers training opportunities for youth work professionals ranging from webinars to symposiums to workshops and more!
