Despite the decline in homicide rates over the last twenty years, youth violence remains a significant public health issue which disproportionately affects young people of color and is often found at higher rates in urban, disadvantaged neighborhoods. To advance prevention efforts it is important to consider factors beyond the individual such as neighborhood and societal factors that influence youth development. Furthermore, input on neighborhood level factors from members of communities that experience high rates of youth violence can provide unique insight into community life and culture as well as engage communities in prevention efforts. The purpose of this project was to demonstrate a measurement development process that includes community participation and through that process, establish a measure that captures neighborhood social processes that may influence youth behavior as a local urban, disadvantaged community has described them. Previous community based participatory research (CBPR) efforts have identified a concept "neighborhood youth support" as important to youth violence prevention. Guided by principles of CBPR, the current study employed a mixed methods design to develop a measure of this concept. Results of a comprehensive review of social support concepts were used to identify constructs, measures and quality of the measures for the purpose of operationalizing "neighborhood youth support". Next a draft instrument and instructions for the instrument were created. This instrument was then assessed for content validity using a participatory research approach that engaged a community expert panel to review, revise and approve the final instrument for testing in the community. The measure was piloted with a convenience sample of community residents (N=65) and subsequently analyzed for internal consistency reliability and construct validity. Eleven community members and three academic researchers participated on the panel. The final measure consisted of 25 questions in five sub-scales: leadership, respect, intervening in negative behavior, adult presence, and active engagement in positive behavior. Results showed the individual scales to be internally consistent (alpha .626-.783). Principal axis factoring concluded that three of the five scales were measuring one domain while two others were not as clear. Spearman correlations showed moderate to strong positive correlations between these scales and already established scales thought to work similarly as the new scales. Results showed that the measure had good internal consistency and behaved as predicted in comparison to previously validated measures. Moreover, it was established that partnering with community members in measurement development is feasible. This study will help to inform future participatory projects by providing community and academic partnerships with a process for including community voice in measurement development. Finally, the results of this study could help future prevention efforts by providing academic and community researchers with a more nuanced measurement tool and a better understanding of community social processes.

After-school programs, scout groups, community service activities, religious youth groups, and other community-based activities have long been thought to play a key role in the lives of adolescents. But what do we know about the role of such programs for today's adolescents? How can we ensure that programs are designed to successfully meet young people's developmental needs and help them become healthy, happy, and productive adults? Community Programs to Promote Youth Development explores these questions, focusing on essential elements of adolescent well-being and healthy development. It offers recommendations for policy, practice, and research to ensure that programs are well designed to meet young people's developmental needs. The book also discusses the features of programs that can contribute to a successful transition from adolescence to adulthood. It examines what we know about the current landscape of youth development programs for America's youth, as well as how these programs are meeting their diverse needs. Recognizing the importance of adolescence as a period of transition to adulthood, Community Programs to Promote Youth Development offers authoritative guidance to policy makers, practitioners, researchers, and other key stakeholders on the role of youth development programs to promote the healthy development and well-being of the nation's youth.

Measures for Community and Neighborhood Research, by Mary L. Ohmer, Claudia Coulton, Darcy A. Freedman, Joanne L. Sobeck, and Jaime Booth, is the first book of its kind to compile measures focused on communities and neighborhoods in one accessible resource. Organized into two main sections, the first provides the rationale, structure and purpose, and analysis of methodological issues, along with a conceptual and theoretical framework; the second section contains 10 chapters that synthesize, analyze, and describe measures for community and neighborhood research, with tables that summarize highlighted measures. The book will get readers thinking about which aspects of the neighborhood may be most important to measure in different research designs and also help researchers, practitioners, funders, and others more closely examine the impact of their work in communities and neighborhoods.

Measures for Community and Neighborhood Research, by Mary L. Ohmer, Claudia Coulton, Darcy A. Freedman, Joanne L. Sobeck, and Jaime Booth, is the first book of its kind to compile measures focused on communities and neighborhoods in one accessible resource. Organized into two main sections, the first provides the rationale, structure and purpose, and analysis of methodological issues, along with a conceptual and theoretical framework; the second section contains 10 chapters that synthesize, analyze, and describe measures for community and neighborhood research, with tables that summarize highlighted measures. The book will get readers thinking about which aspects of the neighborhood may be most important to measure in different research designs and also help researchers, practitioners, funders, and others more closely examine the impact of their work in communities and neighborhoods.

On January 25, 1996, the Committee on Youth Development of the Board on Children, Youth, and Families convened a workshop to examine the implications of research on social settings for the design and evaluation of programs that serve youth. The January workshop provided an opportunity for the committee to examine the strengths and limitations of existing research on interactions between social settings and adolescent development. This research has drawn attention to the importance of understanding how, when, and where adolescents interact with their families, peers, and unrelated adults in settings such as home, school, places of work, and recreational sites. This workshop builds on previous work of the National Research Council and reiterates its support for integrating studies of social settings into more traditional research on individual characteristics, family functioning, and peer relationships in seeking to describe and explain adolescent behavior and youth outcomes. Not only does this report examine the strengths and limitations of research on social settings and adolescence and identify important research questions that deserve further study in developing this field, but it also explores alternative methods by which the findings of research on social settings could be better integrated into the development of youth programs and services. Specific themes include the impact of social settings on differences in developmental pathways, role expectations, and youth identity and decision-making skills, as well as factors that contribute to variations in community context.

In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.

This volume builds understanding of practices in youth and community development that create or build social capital assets at the individual, group, and community levels. The authors explore whether programs contribute to the development of social capital at the individual and community scales, thereby fostering and enhancing positive youth development as well as community development. It includes articles on defining and measuring social capital through instruments designed to document impact and also to engage program participants. The authors then discuss program practices that build social capital in a wide range of youth development settings, from community-based service-learning to 4-H community clubs. Finally, they focus on building social capital in particular contexts, including work in rural communities with the most vulnerable youth. The volume is designed to help practitioners: Refine their dual focus on youth and community development Clarify constructs that help translate the public value of positive youth development to community stakeholders Provide examples of practices that link youth and youth programs more intentionally to the social relationships that knit communities together. This is the 138th volume of New Directions for Youth Development, the Jossey-Bass quarterly report series dedicated to bringing together everyone concerned with helping young people, including scholars, practitioners, and people from different disciplines and professions.