title: Supporting older youth: what's policy got to do with it?
abstract: The nonschool hours are an underused tool in supporting older youth in their transition to adulthood. Given competing demands on many teens' time and a host of other developmental realities, effective strategies for engaging high schoolers look much different from those of their younger counterparts, and those differences have programmatic and policy implications. Effective youth policies reflect an overarching vision that is about changing lives--a vision that addresses a range of risk and protective factors, simultaneously supports discrete programs and builds coherent pathways to success, and recognizes that children and youth grow up in families and communities. This chapter highlights policy innovations related to teens' involvement in out-of-school-time activities and then looks at three principles that can help ensure that youth policy supports the full range of older youth's unique developmental, social, and economic needs.
authors.affiliation: Forum for Youth Investment.
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yohalem
authors.forename: Alicia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wilson-Ahlstrom
authors.forename: Thaddeus
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ferber
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gaines
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002202:Capital Financing; D006801:Humans; D009042:Motivation; D011640:Public Policy; D012574:Schools / Q000191:economics*; D012944:Social Support; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States