This report stresses the importance of creating networks of community support for young adolescents during nonschool hours. It pays special attention to the needs and interests of youth from low-income families and of diverse backgrounds. The first part of the report deals with the risks and opportunities faced by youth today at home and school and contains essays written by children. In the second part, a wide variety of community programs is described and their potential discussed. These programs include private, nonprofit, religious, and community organizations and public sector institutions. The third part offers recommendations for: (1) strengthening community programs for young adolescents, including recommendations relating to developmental, societal, and organizational issues; (2) constructing supportive policies for young adolescents, including recommendations relating to institutional funding, government policies, and service networks; and (3) promoting healthy adolescent development. Appendixes include a list of papers and reports, a list of participants in task force consultations, biographies of task force members, and profiles of 20 national organizations that participated in the task force study. An executive summary is included, as well as prefatory material by David A. Hamburg, James Comer, and Wilma Tisch. (Contains 68 endnotes.) (PM)