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Administration for Children and Families US Department of Health and Human Services
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Positive Youth Development

The youth development approach is predicated on the understanding that all young people need support, guidance, and opportunities during adolescence, a time of rapid growth and change.  With this support, they can develop self-assurance in the four areas that are key to creating a happy, healthy, and successful life:

  • A sense of competence:  being able to do something well

  • A sense of usefulness:  having something to contribute

  • A sense of belonging:  being part of a community and having relationships with caring adults

  • A sense of power:  having control over one's future

If these factors are being addressed, and basic needs are being met (food, clothes, health care, safety, and security), young people can become fully-prepared to engage constructively in their committees.

To learn more about how your community can promote positive youth development, check out the resources on youth development available through the Web site of the Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB).  FYSB is a Bureau within the Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

You also may link below to a statement of principles for the positive development of America's youth that was collaboratively developed, and is supported, by a broad range of Federal agencies, non-profit organizations, advocacy organizations, intergovernmental associations and others.  (A complete list of supporting organizations is at the end of the brochure.)

The statement of principles, "Toward a Blueprint for Youth:  Making Positive Youth Development a National Priority" is available in HTML and Adobe Acrobat.  (To view the Adobe Acrobat version of the brochure, you must first download and install the free Acrobat Reader.)  The brochure also is available in Spanish in HTML.  (El folleto también esta disponible en español en HTML.)

 

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Last revised: November 2002