Useful Links

Afterschool.gov
Connection to federal resources that support children and youth during out-of-school hours.

Afterschool Alliance
The Afterschool Alliance is dedicated to raising awareness of the importance of afterschool programs and advocating for quality, affordable programs for all children.

The California Center for Community-School Partnerships
Part of the CRESS Center at University of California, Davis. The California Center for Community-School Partnerships' mission is to promote educational equity for all children by developing creative community-school partnerships, spreading knowledge gained from practitioners in the field, and helping families and communities shape education and community reform.

Center for Community Partnerships
At University of Pennsylvania. One of the Center for Community Partnerships' key objectives is to create and strengthen local, national and international networks of institutions of higher education committed to engagement with their local communities.

Center for Cooperative Research & Extension Services for Schools (CRESS Center)
The CRESS Center at University of California, Davis, assists university faculty, education extension specialists, graduate students and K-12 educators in cooperatively designing and conducting educational research, curriculum, and professional development projects.

Chapin Hall Center for Children
At the University of Chicago. Research and development center focusing on policies, practices, and programs affecting children and the families and communities in which they live. Many new publications and abstracts are available free of charge on Chapin Hall's website.

Children's Aid Society
The Children's Aid Society's mission is to ensure the physical and emotional well being of children and families, and to provide each child with the support and opportunities needed to become a happy, healthy and productive adult.

Children Now
Children Now uses approaches that include nonpartisan policy positions to bring about change in government, business, and communities; communications strategies that inform, educate, and engage; analysis and research, including the voices of children and families; partnerships with community organizations, parents, advocates, business, and government; and leadership in motivating those with influence and power to act on behalf of children.

Coalition for Community Schools
The Coalition for Community Schools brings together local, state and national organizations that represent individuals and groups engaged in creating and sustaining community schools.

Forum for Youth Investment
The Forum is designed to build connections and increase exchange among the range of actors in the allied youth fields. Forum services include a listserv and newsletter.

Harvard Family Research Project
The Harvard Family Research Project strives to increases the effectiveness of public and private organizations and communities as they promote child development, student achievement, healthy family functioning, and community development.

The Innovation Center
The Innovation Center seeks, tests and promotes innovative concepts and practices that benefit the entire field of youth and community development. Formerly a divison of National 4-H Council, the Innovation Center is now an independent organization that operates as a project of the Tides Center.

National Institute on Out-of-School Time
The mission of NIOST is to ensure that all children, youth, and families have access to high quality programs, activities, and opportunities during non-school hours.

National Network for Youth
A community of visionary and empowered advocates of all ages who come here to learn, to share, to dream, and to strengthen youth and adult partnerships.

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
From the U.S. Department of Justice, OJJDP seeks to provide national leadership, coordination, and resources to prevent and respond to juvenile delinquency and victimization.

Public Education Fund
PEN's mission is to create systems of public education that result in high achievement for every child.

Public/Private Ventures
PPV's mission is to improve the effectiveness of social policies, programs, and community initiatives, especially as they affect youth and young adults.

Search Institute
The mission of Search Institute is to provide leadership, knowledge, and resources to promote healthy children, youth, and communities.

Urban Health Initiative
UHI's purpose is to determine whether a concerted, collaborative effort can bring about region-wide improvements in multiple measures of youth health and safety. They are focusing their ten-year effort on Oakland and four other U.S. cities.

What Kids Can Do
What Kids Can Do (WKCD) connects the previously separate fields of school reform, youth development, community development, and service learning. Working at the intersection of journalism, research, and advocacy, WKCD finds and documents the best that young people are doing around the country.

Youth on Board
Youth on Board is pioneering permanent change in how society views young people by: changing attitudes and strengthening relationships among youth, and between young people and adults; preparing 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.

Youth Service America
YSA is a resource center and alliance of more than 200 organizations committed to increasing the quantity and quality of opportunities for young Americans.