Youth Policy Advocacy

Many states and communities have multiple task forces, partnerships and councils working on overlapping youth issues, from bullying to pregnancy to dropouts. This policy brief calls attention to the problem of collaboration overload, and suggests ways to tackle it. Check out these tips for working collaboratively without creating redundancy.

On September 21, the Forum brought together several national experts to address key questions around the connections between the high school reform and after-school movements.

Policy makers across the country have stepped up their efforts to address key challenges facing our young people.

On December 14, 2006, The Forum for Youth Investment, along with Voices for America's Children, Kids Count, and the National Conference of State Legislatures, hosted conference call for state child and youth advocates to discuss what the changing political landscape means for child and youth advocacy.

The Forum for Youth Investment, along with Voices for America's Children and Kids Count, hosted a conference call for youth advocates on communications and messaging on February 14th. The call featured Kristen Grimm, president of Spitfire Strategies, and Ann Lochner, director of the Applied Research Collaborative on Youth Development at the University of Minnesota.

Positive youth development is a policy perspective that emphasizes providing services and opportunities to help all young people develop a sense of competence, usefulness, belonging and empowerment.  This framework, Five Keys to Youth Success: Unlocking the Door to Arizona’s Future (Five Keys), focuses on this perspective, and conveys the importance of investing in young people and ensuring tha

By Karen Pittman, May 2005

Polling consistently shows that the public is prepared to invest in its young people. But Congress consistently cuts the budgets of youth programs, while special interests such as makers of ceiling fans, archery equipment, sonar fish finders and tackle boxes receive bigger tax cuts. I consider this a failure of democracy.

In late March, the Rhode Island Foster Parents Association (RIFPA) staged call-ins to the legislature to oppose the budget cuts to youth in the child welfare system. Par for the course? Not quite.