Public schools historically have been the primary institution responsible for preparing young people for participation in a democratic society. However, the almost exclusive focus by today's schools on knowledge and skills hinders their ability to be environments that support overall development and to produce the kinds of flexible, creative, and critical citizens that are needed to continuously create and recreate democracy. This review of the literature reframes the topic of "democracy and education" so as to address the relationship between "democracy" and "development" specific to youth development. In so doing, it adds practices by and findings from outside-of-school youth development programs to the dialogue on democracy. The review of outside-of-school programs is framed by a conceptualization of development as a dialectical, social, and creative activity, arguing that environments promoting this kind of development are necessary if we are to further democratize our culture.