Positive youth development is a holistic approach that focuses on creating a developmentally appropriate learning setting for young people.
Positive youth development strategies focus on forging positive relationships; strengthening academic, soft and technical skills; cultivating trustworthy, safe spaces; and offering youth opportunities to succeed in meaningful ways. Another defining characteristic of Positive Youth Development is that youth are treated as equal partners and engage with their communities, schools, organizations, peer groups and families in ways that are both constructive and productive.
This brief presents the research case for significantly expanding the use of diversion in the juvenile justice system. Learn how arresting young people and processing their cases in juvenile court increases their likelihood of subsequent arrests, school struggles and employment challenges.
The document shares data on how juvenile confinement causes serious harm to youth, fails to prevent future offending and exacerbates racial and ethnic disparities. Read how confinement runs counter to the lessons of adolescent brain science.
Jurisdictions use pretrial confinement to ensure that young people who have been accused of an offense attend court hearings. Yet, a stay in pretrial juvenile detention increases a young person's likelihood of felony recidivism by 33% and misdemeanor recidivism by 11%. Read the new study.
Protests have amplified the need for complex conversations about racial inequity. To help, the Equity Conversation Guides for Young Leaders and Partners provide instructions for facilitators to lead groups in understanding the history of structural racism and how it operates today. Read more.
A three-part series by The Salt Lake Tribune explores how community leaders in Utah’s Kearns are implementing the Evidence2Success framework to help children and teens build better relationships, make healthier choices and ward off depression and negative thoughts.
The Peer2Peer Exchange program is preparing young leaders affected by incarceration and violence to lead a movement toward transformative justice. Following its inaugural year, the program looks to build on its success and build on its results.
JDAIconnect, the online community for JDAI practitioners and everyone who cares about youth justice, has released new log-on instructions for existing and new users. The Annie E. Casey Foundation is providing secure access to JDAIconnect through Okta, an access management system.
Youth-serving organizations looking to identify and address programmatic barriers that are holding back young people of color have a new resource on hand, courtesy of the research nonprofit Child Trends and a paper funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Ten recommendations offer timely guidance to probation leaders who are adjusting their probation practices in light of COVID-19. Learn how probabion systems can better support young people during this challenging time.
Young people, especially those who’ve experienced public systems and homelessness, are facing numerous challenges amid the coronavirus pandemic. Learn how Learn and Earn to Achieve Potential (LEAP) is developing solutions for these issues.
