On April 26, 2017, The American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF) and the Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) hosted the third annual Samuel Halperin Lecture and Youth Public Service Award in Washington, D.C.

The keynote was the Forum's Karen Pittman. The lecture and youth award serve as an ongoing tribute to Samuel Halperin, who dedicated his life and career to improving youth education, workforce, and policy outcomes

North Carolina Chambers of Commerce leaders, county commissioners, early learning program providers, private foundations, community organizations, local school board members, Smart Start local partnerships and business leaders recently spent a day together discussing how to make greater local investments in young children.

As the nation focuses on the new presidential administration, a small but potentially transformative trend is emerging in choices down the ballot: Voters were asked to support the children in their community with new tax revenue and they overwhelmingly agreed. 

Youth development professionals come from many backgrounds and work in a variety of settings. Due to this diversity, it’s essential to ensure there’s a basic understanding of positive youth development among those working in the field.

In a @Click2Science blog post, “Planting the Seed that makes ‘STEM’ Grow,” Karen Pittman discusses the importance of PYD in STEM and resources to improve PYD skills.

"There's nothing so practical as a good theory."  Kurt Lewin (known as one of the modern pioneers of social, organizational, and applied psychology in the U.S.) is right, but his advice takes us only so far. 

In his latest book, Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis, Harvard professor Robert Putnam describes with great clarity the starkly different experiences of kids living in the same community.

For many in the United States, the United Kingdom (UK) has been a standout among political powers because of its treatment of youth work—afterschool programming, voluntary services, job training, housing—as a public good.

We’re all for evidence-based policy making. But there are moments when the use of the “evidence” card just rings false. Brookings Senior Education Fellow Mark Dynarski’s reprised conclusion that existing research on afterschool programs does not support the current federal investment has that telltale clank.