Promoting Positive Youth Development: An Investment in Youth & Communities

What Is Positive Youth Development?

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) created the Positive Youth Development approach more than 30 years ago when researchers and practitioners identified what kept most young people on the right track:

• A sense of competence: being able to do something well (such as mastering job skills)
• A sense of usefulness: having something to contribute (such as volunteering for community projects)
• A sense of belonging: being part of a community (such as identifying with an ethnic or social group)
• A sense of power: having control over one's future (such as having access to education or training)

Positive Youth Development, therefore, requires a communitywide approach to ensure that all young people develop knowledge and skills, belong and contribute to a community, and plan for their future.

Who's Promoting Positive Youth Development? >>