Youth Today
Guest Opinion Essay
-
1.4KTo Engage Teens, Give Them Real Voice in Decision Making
Despite growing national interest in increasing out-of-school-time opportunities for high school aged students, many programs for older youth struggle to attract and...
-
1.4KSubstance Use Among Teens Is Never Benign
Adolescence is a time of growth and potential but also a time of risk-taking and experimentation with drugs and alcohol, which can...
-
2.1KTaking a Systemic Approach to Access and Equity in After-school
Quality after-school opportunities benefit children in many ways, but millions of disadvantaged youth don’t have access to good programs.
-
1.1KWe Must Decriminalize Trauma for Girls with Histories of Abuse or Neglect
Girls’ involvement in the juvenile justice system is growing disproportionately at a time when arrest rates for boys are declining.
-
2.8KLegalized Torture: A Solitary Confinement Experience
"After just 24 hours, I testify that solitary confinement is hell on earth. Solitary confinement is legalized torture," says Anyssa Williams, a...
-
1.6KSelfishly Selfless: Social Anxiety, Addiction and the Benefits of Service
People in recovery vividly recall their first experiences with drugs and alcohol as teenagers.
-
2.1KNo Job, No Home, No Green Card: Crashing Into 21
“Do you know you’re an illegal immigrant?” I was 19 when my social worker asked me this question. Shocked and confused, I...
-
1.2KTime to End State-sanctioned Assaults on Our Schoolchildren
When I arrived in North Carolina more than a decade ago to teach and practice law, it was a bit of a...
-
8.3KConsidering a Research-Informed Theoretical Framework for Trauma-Informed Approaches
Trauma-informed self-sufficiency programs are in their infancy in assessing how, where and when to address trauma among their clients. But new frameworks...
-
1.3KWe Need Better Legal Protection for Young People in the Justice System
Think back to yourself at 14 or 15 years old. You’ve just started high school. But you’re not at school now —...
-
1.4KPreventive Services Saved My Family
I was pregnant when I aged out of foster care. My boyfriend and I wanted to have the baby, but I worried...
-
4.4KThe Outdoor Adventure Gap: We Must Help Young People Spend Time in Nature
The imbalance of indoor recreation — like screen time — and outdoor play is cause for concern. Young people experience mental, physical...
-
1.3KSchools, States Should Use Existing Resources to Improve Student Health and Absenteeism
For young people with chronic health conditions to be healthy enough to attend school, they first need access to affordable and reliable...
-
1.5KResilience: Our Nation’s Great Social Justice Issue for Kids
I firmly believe that resilience is not just something you’re born with — it’s something that can be taught to both children...
-
2.8KTime to Take Close Look at Family First Act
To read the rhetoric coming from the foster care-industrial complex lately, you’d think that the private child welfare agencies that need a...
-
1.0KCelebrating Professional After-school Workforce
A national survey of National AfterSchool Association members shows the after-school workforce has higher levels of education, more longevity in the field...
-
1.3KWho Will I Be As an Adult?
In all those years I was bounced around, I didn’t know where I belonged or what would happen when I aged out...
-
1.4KEarn to Learn: A Teen’s Job Is to Do Well in School
Young people commit — in writing — to a grade they will earn for each class. The better they perform, the higher...
-
1.1KKeep Alcohol in Focus to Reduce Youth Substance Use
April is Alcohol Awareness Month. Addressing misperceptions is important, because otherwise we run the risk of further perpetuating beliefs among young people...
-
1.4KWhat Do We Owe Each Other?
A teenage girl on the road to high school graduation struggles to stay connected to her birth parents while coping with their...
