Mobilizing New York State communities for positive youth development.

New  Research and Resources for Youth Development   

  • Risky Decision Making in Adolescence: How do young people make decisions about risk? youth leadership retreat 2008This presentation by Dr. Valerie Reyna suggests that the widespread view of young people as irrational risk-takers is far from the truth. Dr. Reyna is professor of Human Development and Psychology at Cornell University, and co-director of the Center for Behavioral Economics and Decision Research.

    See also this summary of Reyna's research (pdf).

  • Strengthening Communities Through Youth Participation (pdf): This study by the Center for Nonprofits at University of Wisconsin-Madison explores how the ACT for Youth communities have responded to the challenges of youth engagement, presenting lessons learned and identifying strategies and outcomes at the community level. 

  • fACTs Regarding U.S. Teen Demographics, Attitudes, and Behaviors (pdf): This fact sheet offers a statistical snapshot of U.S. adolescents, including selected stats on sexual health, substance use, education, civic engagement, online time, and family relationships.

  • Youth Network:  Visit our statewide youth network at nysYouth.net! 

  • Youth Development Training Resource: Positive Youth Development Resource Manual. ACT for Youth offers this user-friendly online (and fully downloadable) youth development training manual for use in educating community groups about positive youth development. The manual includes training activities with lesson plans/facilitation tips, handouts, brief power point presentations and references to other resources.