Connected by 25

Just for Youth

Young adults are their own best advocates, and systems change often depends on the activism of youth who demand a voice in shaping their future paths to successful adulthood.

YTFG partnered with staff and youth leaders from the Community Justice Network for Youth, the National Foster Youth Advisory Council, and YouthBuild U.S.A. to collect youth-centered tools that are effective at engaging youth and promoting youth leadership.

Tools for Life Skills

Casey Life Skills (Casey Family Programs)
These free, online tools allow youth to assess and develop their strengths in life skills including money management, work and study habits, self-care, and readiness for seeking a job and housing.

Getting Ready: A monthly teen magazine on life skills (forthcoming)

Blueprint for Good Youth Development Principles

Community Programs to Promote Youth Development

(National Research Council)

Foster Youth Advocacy

Practicing Youth Advocacy (NFYAC)

This toolkit give practical steps on self-advocacy, being an advocate with a youth program, and advocating as a youth leader at the local, state, and national level.

Forming a Youth Council

Creating a Handbook for Youth in Foster Care

Youth Leadership

Youth and Adult Partnerships

Permanency Position Statement (NFYAC)

Education Position Statement (NFYAC)

Voices (Michigan County Youth Leadership Boards)

California Youth Connection

Youth Activism and Organizing

Declaration of Inter-Dependence

(YouthBuild USA)

Directory of youth organizing groups involved in school reform

(What Kids Can Do)

From coast to coast, community-based youth groups—some entirely youth-led, some involving young people working alongside adults—are increasingly taking on the issue of public education and improving schools. Here’s an annotated directory of some of these groups.

Youth Activism: A Web Forum
(Social Science Research Council)
This Social Science Research Council Web Forum seeks to foster discussion, debate and analysis on young people as civic and political actors. The Forum intends to be a virtual space for developing and disseminating new information, ideas and approaches to youth activism—especially those in which young people are involved in forms of advocacy through purposeful and organized collective action.

Having a Voice, Knowing Your Rights

Foster Care Info

Juvenile Justice Info

Education Info

Youth Media

Youth Rights Media www.youthrightsmedia.org

Youth Outlook         www.youthoutlook.org

Pacific News Media - The Beat Within  www.thebeatwithin.org

True Stories by Teens

Represent Magazine

ICanMakeIt.org

(Miami-Dade County Florida)

The portal was created originally to provide special attention to community foster-care youths who are transitioning to adulthood and life on their own, but the site resources and content are pertinent and valuable to teens and young adults of any sector of the community.

YTFG Field Collaborations and Partners>>