Librarians and teens do have something in common: both are saddled with persistent public images impervious to reality. But the images are poles apart. Can the prim, silence-enforcing Librarian reach out to—and learn from—the reckless, noisy, Teen? Connect for Kids Editor Susan Phillips interviewed Deborah Taylor of Baltimore’s Enoch Pratt Library about the library’s expanding commitment to youth development.

With the numbers of kids suffering from asthma on the rise, more and more cities are taking steps to help some of its most common victims: kids who live in and around urban areas. Here, Connect for Kids' Rob Capriccioso highlights several urban asthma mobiles across the U.S. that have been set up to not only treat the symptoms of asthma, but also to educate parents and children on how to effectively manage the chronic condition.

Teens are involved in three times as many fatal crashes as older drivers, and auto accidents are the leading cause of death for teenagers, resulting in thousands of deaths each year. In Maryland, a recent spate of high-profile teen traffic fatalities has spurred a wide-ranging discussion of how to reduce the death rate. Rob Capriccioso takes a look at how policymakers, educators, parents and students are working to find solutions.

Rap-inspired math, spelling and science lessons are fast becoming music to the ears of kids in both urban and suburban settings. Superheroes like Grammar Man and CDs like De-U Records' "Multiplication Hip-Hop" aim to be the Schoolhouse Rock for a new generation. Join Rob Capriccioso as he takes a look behind the music.

The Center for Children is dedicated to the prevention and treatment of child abuse through intervention, counseling and education. We empower children and their families to heal the wounds of abuse.

The mission of this organization is bring about public awareness of child development issues and readiness for school.

Advocates for Children and Youth (ACY) was founded in 1987 by a group of prominent child advocates in Maryland who saw the need for an independent organization to advocate for the needs of the state's children and families in the community, the media and the public policy arena.

ACY's mission has remained unchanged since its founding--to identify problems, promote policies and programs that improve results for Maryland children in measurable and meaningful ways, and evaluate the effectiveness of programs and policies for the state's children and youth. The agency's goals include ensuring that children have access to:

60 policymakers and numerous low-income constituents in Colorado, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, Ohio, Washington, and West Virginia are spending a month together "walking a mile" in each other's shoes to learn from one another about poverty, public policies and politics. It's part of the national Walk a Mile (WAM) project based in Seattle. Among the object lessons: policymakers will try to feed their family on the amount of money they would receive in food stamps for their family size.

An analysis of government spending in the late 1990s shows that despite an economic boom and rising state spending, few public funds reached children in need in five economically distressed cities: Baltimore, Detroit, Oakland, Philadelphia, and Richmond. In these areas, state per capita expenditures rose 12 percent -- but spending by all levels of government for services to children rose only an average 2 percent per child.

Issue Areas:
Adolescent and Youth Development
Data and Trends
Employment and Career Raediness
Family and Parenting
Foster Care
Juvenile Justice
Life Skills
Mentoring
Minority Youth
Model Practices and Policies

Youth Culture/Hip-Hop Culture
Crime and Violence
Successful Programs
Positive Peer pressure
Workforce Development

Emerging adulthood, risk behavior in adolescence, media use in adolescence

Managing complex systems
Youth development as a strategy to address at-risk behaviors
The importance of a caring adult
Staff development