Civic Engagement
Young Politicians of America
www.ypa.org
is the site for an upstart network for politically attuned youth. The Walnut Creek, Calif.-based organization, founded by three teens in 1998, provides links to a wealth of news on domestic and global issues, including op-ed and feature pieces by YPA staff and site visitors. The site also features a regularly updated list of available political internships and a well-moderated message board that facilitates lively bipartisan discussion.
Community Problem-Solving
www.community-problem-solving.net/cms
is a free collection of organizing resources for nonprofits and civic activists. This Harvard University project, funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, connects visitors to web resources on strategy and program planning, and provides an excellent online discussion group. A great side feature: Click on “Creator’s Log” for site developer Xavier de Souza Briggs’ running diary on what it takes to create an online community resource.
Community Mapping Assistance Project
www.cmap.nypirg.org
is a valuable resource for any nonprofit or community organization that needs geographic information services (GIS). Mapping is a powerful way to display trends and areas of need for families and youth in a community, but mapping software is beyond the financial reach of many such organizations. This project, a division of the New York Public Interest Research Group, provides the organizations with GIS analysis at reasonable rates. Samples of the project’s work, as well as free GIS data for New York nonprofits, are available on the site.
Funding
Fundsnet Online Services
www.fundsnetservices.com
is a comprehensive online center for funding information. The organization, based in Taftville, Conn., links visitors to hundreds of potential grant makers in the youth field, with a categorized listing that makes navigation easy. The main page connects visitors to updated information about funding opportunities and news in the field and to fund-raising resources and publications.
Juvenile Justice
The Greenbook Initiative
www.thegreenbook.info
is the key online component of a national initiative started in 1999 to facilitate communication between social welfare agencies and court systems. The site drives home the point that in half of child maltreatment cases the mother has been battered, but courts often overlook that factor when making child custody and placement decisions. “Greenbook,” overseen by the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, aims to increase awareness of this correlation through features such as a well-organized bank of news coverage.
Youth Workers
International Child and Youth Care Network
www.cyc-net.org
features articles and other materials on the field of youth work from around the world. The information includes conference listings and best practices summaries, while the reading section offers journal articles, a reference library and links to online magazines. There are also discussion threads open to all visitors. The site is sponsored by the Royal Netherlands Embassy in South Africa.
