Youth Today

Getting Out of Our Funk

I’m in a funk. I’ll bet you are, too. Those of us who value young people, who give our all in the...

Aged Out of After-School

As youth workers, we face similar challenges when it comes to keeping older teens enrolled in our programs. By the time our...

Abstinence Ed: Why the Fuss?

To abstain or not to abstain – that is a question many young people are asking themselves. Most adults and youth, and...

Psychologists, Mental Health and Youth Development

Many professional groups comprise the tapestry of what Youth Today readers call “youth work”: Educators, health professionals, managers with MBAs, sociologists and...

Dishonest Youth Videos

The avalanche of videos and program materials proposing to deter American youths from acting like American adults – that is, indulging sex,...

Back to School

September is back-to-school month. And for the first time in the nation’s history, many communities are beginning to get an accurate sense...

Business Leaders May Have the Wrong Stuff

There is a great scene in the first half of the movie The Right Stuff. A group of men is crowded around...

Summer of Service: An American Rite of Passage?

In many cultures, the transition from childhood into the teen years is marked by a rite of passage in which the young...

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...

A Topic That Frightens Youth Work

Let’s talk taboos. In the not-too-distant past, cancer was unmentionable, even if someone you loved was dying from the disease. We’ve come...

Those Determined to Teach Do Youth Work

More than 15 years ago, I began using a twist on an old saying as a way to get discussions started about...

Liberal Lunacies

In 40 years of working for progressive causes, I’ve never seen liberalism in such pathetic decay. What bizarre mechanism makes modern liberal...

Blueprint for Political Action?

So-called “527” organizations drew national attention last year for helping to torpedo the presidential candidacy of Democrat John Kerry with allegations about...

Shelter Care vs. Foster Family Care

Youth Today recently drew attention to an important issue: the debate about what type of emergency care – shelter or family foster...

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...

Getting Money Under the Table

I’m about to get into a lot of trouble. Little did I know when I agreed to write a column for Youth...

Community College Hoopla vs. the Equity Gap

These are good times for community colleges. President Bush is stumping for support of the community college system. Special initiatives in the...

Statistical Bigotry

From the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last month abolishing capital punishment for juveniles, to the latest media crusade to banish 16-year-old drivers,...

Put Every Child Ahead

In recent weeks, children and youth advocates from across the country have joined forces with anti-poverty activists to oppose President Bush’s proposed...