These proceedings include 13 "perspectives from the field" and 9 selected papers (with abstracts) from a national conference on recommended policies and practices for investing in youth. The 13 perspectives papers are as follows: "Saving the Next Generation" (Berlin); "Effective Strategies for Investing in Youth" (El-Amin); "Policies and Issues Concerning Youth at Risk" (Jones); "The Meaning of School Reform" (Mizell); "Community-Based Efforts and Youth Development Policy: An Effective Partnership for Latino Youth" (Perez); "From Deterrence to Development: Toward a National Youth Policy" (Pittman); "Investing in Our Youth" (Slobig); "What We Can Do for Our Youth" (Walker, Bailin); "Building a System of Effective Programs for In-school At-risk Youth and Dropout Youth" (Wuest);"What Are Effective Strategies for Investing in Youth?" (Burton); "How to Get Young People Interested in School and Careers" (Cavaness); "Youth Investment: Progressive Empowerment for Change" (Dimopoulos); and "What Should the Government Be Doing to Better Serve Our Youth?" (Johnson). The following papers (preceded by abstracts) are also included: "Improving the Performance and Coordination of Workforce Preparation Programs for Youth through the Integration of Federal-State Performance Standards Systems" (Baj, Sheets, Trott); "Casting a Wide Net: Providing Two-Generational Services to Teen Mothers and Their Children in Portland, Oregon" (Blank, Bromel); "A State Policy Intervention to Create a Collaborative Children and Family Services System" (Fields et al.); "Education that Works: Creating Career Pathways for New York State Youth, Summary of Final Report" (Gillette); "Developing Statewide Systems of Youth Apprenticeships as a Mechanism to Restructure Secondary Schooling" (Harris); "The Youth Apprenticeship Option: A Status Report on the Development of State Systems" (Kazis, Niles); "Pennsylvania Education: Welfare Collaboration Model for Successful Teen Parent Programs" (Lawer, Cromley); "Developing Standards and Measures of Performance for Vocational Education Using the Resources of V-TECS [Vocational-Technical Education Consortium of States] and Other Related Organizations" (McCage, Hattaway); and "Toward a Universal Job Opportunity Grant and Loan for Education and Training" (Zuckerman). (MN)