Youth Development Institute, April 2009

Part 1: Supervision at the Beacons

Part 2: Young People Advocate for, Plan, and Provide Services to Their Communities

Part 3: The Social Group Work Approach

Part 4: From Membership to Leadership

Part 5: Knitting Together School and Afterschool

Part 6: Preventing Placement in Foster Care

Part 7: Tailor Made – Attracting, Retaining, and Engaging Hard-to-Reach Youth

Part 8: Engaging Middle School Youth Through Project-Based Learning Clubs

Practices to Keep In After-School and Youth Programs is a series of documentation reports that highlight successful approaches in Beacons, which are community centers in school buildings that combine youth and community development to support young people, families, and neighborhoods. Developed for Beacons, these approaches are also widely used in the expanding world of After-School and Youth Programs.

The reports demonstrate how local ingenuity applied to key issues over time can leverage individual, neighborhood, and policy change. They contain ideas for practitioners to adapt to their
own programs and for policymakers who seek practical responses to critical concerns—literacy and academic support for youth, preparation for work and participation in the labor force, strengthening families and preventing foster care placement, and creating opportunities to play important roles that strengthen the fabric of community social organization.