This chapter focuses on two remote rural communities that engaged young people in meaningful community development efforts to build social capital. One community connected youth to the assets of the community and created opportunities for young adults to strengthen social networks. The other created partnerships and networks to build…

Educational transitions and the transition from school to working life present substantial challenges for youth in modern societies. In addition to the drastic changes taking place in their personal lives as they navigate the educational ladder and the transition to work life, young adults today face profound changes in society as well. In…

This article examines the role of rapid social change for human adaptation, focusing in particular on uncertainty in educational and career-related goals of young people born between 1970 and 1990. A review of the research evidence suggests that although most young people want to continue in higher education, more young people in the later-born…

This article reviews the research literature on teaching and supporting purpose in adolescence and young adulthood. An extensive search revealed that most studies on youth purpose examine psychological correlates and neglect instructional and social supports. School is an effective context for fostering purpose, yet reported approaches for…

There is an explosion of youth subscriptions to original content-media-sharing Web sites such as YouTube. These Web sites combine media production and distribution with social networking features, making them an ideal place to create, connect, collaborate, and circulate. By encouraging youth to become media creators and social networkers, new…

Youth organizing within the institutional context of community-based organizations has grown exponentially. Drawing on interviews with more than eighty organizers, youth, and educators, this article examines young people's experiences as they organize to expand educational opportunities for themselves and their peers in urban school districts. The…

Institutions should normally have an integrative influence. The family, for example, has the task of protecting and giving socio-emotional support to children, and schools should prepare young people for their future. Ideally the common goal of all of society's institutions is to secure the integration of youth and prevent or intervene against…

Addressing the spiritual development of young people has the potential to strengthen youth work and its outcomes. Spiritual development matters because it is an intrinsic part of being human and because young people themselves view it as important. This article reviews the research that points to positive impacts of spiritual development for youth…

In this article, the author writes lyrically of the struggle of young people to find meaning and hope in an increasingly secular world, and focuses his discussion on potential roles for adults "who are in serious life-shaping relationships with young people. . . to recognize and respond to the spiritual development of young people." The first role…

Youth work in the United Kingdom is a profession requiring three years of training, and its beginnings are strongly rooted in a spiritual (often specifically Christian) context. Until the past few decades, spirituality was also integrated within the educational system. The author argues that intentionally bringing spirituality to the center of…

Speaking to the issue of spiritual development from her extensive experience as a youth work practitioner, the author notes several ideas she finds particularly compelling, among them that spiritual development interacts with, yet is distinct from, moral and religious development; that spiritual development is a core construct of identity…

In September 2005, the Toronto-based Task Force on Modernizing Income Security for Working Age Adults (MISWAA) examined Canada's income security system and presented proposals to improve the economic security of low-income, working-age adults. Former youth in care, with their poor outcomes and limited prospects for self-sufficiency as they…

The issue of outcomes for youth who transition from state care to adulthood is not unique to any one country. Youth exiting the child welfare system, or aging out, face a plethora of problems and issues associated with the transition to adulthood. For the majority of youth, the transition to adulthood represents a process that takes place over a…

Youth without citizenship or permanent resident status who age out of care are vulnerable to exploitation and deportation. This article explores the dimensions of this issue and ways to address it. It highlights the vulnerability of a small but significant group of youth in transition from the child welfare system who are most vulnerable right at…

Over the past few years, considerable research has highlighted the challenges posed by the need for social reinsertion of youth who leave placement. For youth who leave an alternative living environment at the outset of adulthood, this integration is made all the more difficult by psychosocial and health factors and a lack of support in preparing…