The Remix is a collaboration between Youth Today and Knowledge to Power Catalysts.

The post About Changing the Odds Remix appeared first on Youth Today.

The agenda offers detailed roadmaps to help states better use existing data and funds.

The post Addressing student absenteeism, tutoring and after-school programs to meet new White House goals appeared first on Youth Today.

Schools must balance standardized education with nurturing diverse talents.

The post Just as dams can make rivers healthy, balanced learning systems bolster schools appeared first on Youth Today.

Looking at the full OST learning ecosystem could reveal less costly, more sustainable options.

The post Shifting from systems to ecosystems thinking: Why does it matter? appeared first on Youth Today.

Funders are finding innovative ways to respond to inequities borne by the youth workforce.

The post A brilliant solution to empowering the youth workforce appeared first on Youth Today.

Community schools are one of the most effective, scalable strategies for addressing inequities.

The post Every school a community school. Every community a learning community. appeared first on Youth Today.

How can we help schools find opportunities to assess and adjust their roles?

The post Why does public education require public schools? appeared first on Youth Today.

Guides can help youth access opportunities and become active players in their community.

The post New pathways toward school and community crossings appeared first on Youth Today.

The Cheyenne River Youth Project has managed to access public funding bottlenecked in school budgets. 

The post South Dakota afterschool program shows the power of authentically responding to community needs appeared first on Youth Today.

A private opinion study helps show what Americans think about character education in schools.

The post Americans say character education is schools’ top job. So why do they think no one else cares? appeared first on Youth Today.

Complete Power of Us survey today to build understanding of youth program staff shortages.

The post The power of us comes from fully being us and fully seeing them appeared first on Youth Today.

The solution to uncomfortable conversations is to expand the discussions, not shut them down.

The post Adults need calming rooms, too appeared first on Youth Today.

School and community-based educators agree that resources and relationships are critical to youth success.

The post The value of unbounded resources and relationships appeared first on Youth Today.

SROs, mentors, outdoor educators, soccer coaches, and youth librarians may not think of themselves as being in the same business, but they are if families and young people find them effective. It is time to return to our positive youth development roots and ensure that we are supporting consistent, asset-based practices and mindsets for all adults working with young people.

The post The Remix with Karen Pittman: Taking police out of schools — different paths, same lessons appeared first on Youth Today.

I continue to be impressed with the simplicity and power of Handle with Care, a partnership between law enforcement, schools and mental health providers that was created to ensure that children exposed to trauma in their home, school or community get quick support. The program allows first responders to send “handle with care” notes to the schools of children who have been involved in a traumatic incident such as domestic violence, house fire or eviction.  

The post The Remix with Karen Pittman: Handle with care appeared first on Youth Today.

To understand how the current moment calls for more explicit, taught instruction in the out-of-school time space to complement this historically integrated skill building, we must explore the connection between behaviors and settings. In any given moment, behavior is the combination of capacity, opportunity and motivation.

The post The Remix with Karen Pittman: Caught and taught — Out-of-school time programs add social-emotional instruction appeared first on Youth Today.

I'm encouraged by recent signs that the Biden administration understands the importance of community-based organizations to the allied youth fields.

The post The Remix with Karen Pittman: Student Success + Youth Success = Field Success appeared first on Youth Today.

Adolescents are a force for good is one of the UCLA’s Center for the Developing Adolescent six principles of adolescent development. The others are equally declarative. These simple declarations are powerful discussion starters because they force us to examine embedded assumptions that shape how we interpret adolescents’ behaviors and that in some cases have been reinforced by over-simplification and selective use of the incredibly nuanced research. 

The post The Remix with Karen Pittman: Adolescents are a force for good appeared first on Youth Today.

I’ve been struck once again this month, while reading Youth Today, by how the stories and commentaries demonstrated the complexity of what it takes to meet youth and families where they are – struggling to succeed in spite of homelessness, facing the realities of institutional biases that are condoned in staff, speaking out against youth violence, or receiving a disproportionate share of scholarship funds promoted as available to all.

Amongst these, an opinion piece titled “Radically reimagining youth work in the wake of ‘freedom summer’” stood out to me. Torie Weiston-Serdan asks the questions many are asking. Did the protests, discussions and reforms that were sparked by George Floyd’s murder reduce the pain that Black youth, and in particular Black boys, experience daily? What can we do to protect Black children now?

The post The Remix with Karen Pittman: Re-centering youth work across systems appeared first on Youth Today.

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken its toll on teens, accelerating the declines in youth mental health that were evident before the pandemic. New CDC survey results from the Division of Adolescent and School Health document the growing mental health threats to teens. In 2021, 44% of high school students reported persistent sadness or hopelessness, compared to just under 37% in 2019. This new data further fuels a shift in the teen mental health conversation from speculation to action. Recent commentaries focus both on what to do and what not to do.

The post The Remix with Karen Pittman: Policies that erase Black, brown or LGBTQ youth are a crisis appeared first on Youth Today.