Onondaga County

ACT for Youth – Assets Coming Together for Youth- aims to strengthen community partnerships that promote positive youth development and prevent risky and unhealthy behaviors among young people, aged 10 to 19. The ACT for Youth initiative is a project of the New York State Department of Health, and was developed in cooperation with the Partners for Children, a collaboration of public and private sector organizations committed to improving the health and education of children and adolescents throughout New York State

The Activism 2000 project, headed by Wendy Lesko, was founded in 1992 as a private, non-partisan organization to encourage young people to speak up and pursue lasting solutions to problems they care deeply about. The site offers many valuable resources for youth and adults, including the Maximum Youth Involvement Toolkit and The 26% Solution (written for Youth).

Communities that Care (CTC) is a prevention planning system that helps communities develop an integrated approach to promoting the positive youth development of children and youth and to preventing problem behaviors, including substance abuse, delinquency, teen pregnancy, school dropout, and violence. Originally developed by Richard Catalano and David Hawkins, information and training regarding CTC is administered by the Channing Bete Company.

The Fund for the City of New York is a private operating foundation launched by the Ford Foundation in 1968 with the mandate to improve the quality of life for all New Yorkers. Through centers on youth, government and technology as well as core organizational assistance, the Fund introduces and helps to implement innovations in policy, programs, practice and technology in order to advance the functioning of government and nonprofit organizations in New York City and beyond.

The Innovation Center for Community and Youth Development works to foster and strengthen the best thinking and practice in the field of youth development. The Innovation Center’s network of youth and adult staff and partners seek, test, and promote innovative concepts and practices, providing cutting edge tools for youth workers in diverse setting. They offer resources including the At the Table: Youth Voices in decision-Making video and the Creating Youth/Adult Partnerships curriculum.

NYDIC, The National Youth Development Information Center, is a project for the National Assembly through its affinity group, The National Collaboration for Youth. NYDIC provides practice-related information about youth development to national and local youth-serving organizations at low cost or no cost.

Search Institute is an independent, nonprofit, nonsectarian organization whose mission is to advance the well being of adolescents and children by generating knowledge and promoting its application. To accomplish this mission, the institute generated, synthesizes, and communicates new knowledge, convenes organizational and community leaders, and works with state and national organizations. Recent publications: Fisher, Deborah. 2003. Assets in Action. A Handbook for Making Communities Better Places to Grow Up Engelmanm, Jeanne. 2003. Pass it on at School Activity Handouts for Creating Caring Schools.

Youth on Board works to change attitudes and strengthen relationships among youth, and between young people and adults; prepares young people to be leaders and decision makers in all aspects of their lives; and ensuring that policies, practices and laws reflect young people’s role as full and valued members of their communities. The site offers valuable reference materials on involving youth in decision-making. Publication: Young, K. S, & Sazama. J. 1999. 14 Points. Successfully Involving Youth in Decision Making.