Jane Quinn, Author at Youth Today

Does Your Work Interfere with Your Life?

Find a focal point for your career that stirs your soul. Joseph Campbell advised, “Follow your bliss.” Good counsel in general, but...

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Guest Opinion Essay

When Sunset Doesn’t Mean the End of the Day

How many organizations do you know that have put themselves out of business — voluntarily? I am acquainted with some that folded...

Youth Workers Essential to Helping Kids Succeed in School

When Woody Allen famously quipped that “80 percent of success is showing up,” more than a kernel of truth popped out. Because...

Guest Opinion Essay

It’s Not a Sprint, It’s a Marathon

In the “good research is a footnote to common sense” department, a new Harvard University study has found that positive developmental experiences...

Guest Opinion Essay

Whatever Happened to Youth Development?

When something occurs once, it’s a phenomenon; twice, it’s a pattern; three times, a definite trend. Well, three times in as many...

Guest Opinion Essay

Congratulations on Your Engagement

A recent study entitled A Report on the 2007 and 2008 High School Survey of Student Engagement provides some distressing news about...

Guest Opinion Essay

Minding Our Peas and Cukes

Several years ago, when foundations and policymakers discovered the obesity crisis in our country – seemingly overnight – I thought we...

Guest Opinion Essay

Community Schools: A Rose By Any Other Name

When U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan appeared on the “Charlie Rose Show” in mid-March, he outlined a vision for America’s public schools...

Guest Opinion Essay

Aching for Adults

At a recent dropout prevention conference in New York state, a panel of five teenagers shared their ideas about what it...

Guest Opinion Essay

What Youth Programs Teach

At a recent session of a youth development program, during a Mad Libs activity that served as an icebreaker, one of...

Guest Opinion Essay

Competence is Cool

Interest in after-school programs for high schoolers is growing around the country, and in many quarters. Several recent national conferences have focused...

Guest Opinion Essay

Let’s Stress the Fun in Fundamental

Everyone knows that reading is fundamental; we even have a national organization by that name. Yet a recent report from the National...

Employment: Archives 2014 & Earlier

Not Déjà Vu All Over Again

A smart person once observed that opportunity resides at the intersection of need and capacity. I thought of this adage recently as...

Guest Opinion Essay

Can Youth Development Programs Contribute to Academic Success?

A hot topic in the world of after-school and youth development programs is their role in promoting young people’s academic success. Often...

Employment: Archives 2014 & Earlier

The Quality Conundrum

Conventional wisdom says the quality of youth work programs rests in no small measure on the quality of the program staff. But...

Guest Opinion Essay

A Tale of Two Studies

The recently released final report on Mathematica’s study of after-school programs (“When Schools Stay Open Late: The National Evaluation of the 21st...

Guest Opinion Essay

Youth Work’s Unexpected Allies

A recent issue of Education Week carried a front-page photograph of a studious octogenarian and urged readers to turn to an inside...

Guest Opinion Essay

Professional Development: Investing in Futures

The field of youth development faces major challenges in creating and sustaining our work force. Long treated as a component of our...

Guest Opinion Essay

Perfect Marriage, 21st Century Style

While the recent presidential election generated much heated discussion about the institution of marriage, the youth work field has quietly harnessed energy...

Guest Opinion Essay