Engaging young teens in quality out-of-school time programs is no easy feat. Cypress Hills-East New York, a Beacon Center located in Brooklyn, has developed a strategy for recruiting and enrolling youth ages 9 to 14 for its school-year program. What works best? The Youth Development Institute shares some of the secrets of success.

Louisville, Kentucky, has made great progress in bringing together agencies, organizations and programs to coordinate services for children and youth -- there's even innovative data sharing. The Forum for Youth Investment convened stakeholders to ask: how can a community come together to provide all children and youth a chance to succeed? Read
the full story and learn Louisville's answers.

The National League of Cities' Institute for Youth, Education and Families has a new action kit to help municipal leaders create a master plan that brings together the schools, agencies and organizations working with youth to develop a shared vision and framework to coordinate services.

This new report from the Kellogg Foundation, the Monitor Institute and Clohesy Consulting examines innovation theory and practiceand how innovation in the social sector could become a more consistent and reliable commodity for social good.

September 15— The National Collaboration for Youth (NCY), a 40 year old coalition of youth-serving nonprofits, has proposed a national policy agenda, “Toward a Brighter Future: An Essential Agenda for America’s Young People.”

While most would agree that “children are our greatest asset,” the federal government’s investment in children and youth continues to decline. The National Collaboration for Youth offers an agenda and policy recommendations to help states and our nation meet the needs of America’s children and youth in 2009 and beyond.

The Every Child Matters Education Fund and its local, state and national partners are hosting a nonpartisan event on the capitol steps in Washington, DC, and all 50 states to draw public attention to issues affecting America's children—poverty, health care, juvenile incarceration, early care and education, child abuse, and after-school programs.

The Health Resources and Services Administration has a new funding opportunity. Up to
$375,000 will be awarded for demonstration projects to improve health care access in
rural areas. RFP deadline: October 16. For more program information, click here.

This program awards up to $10,000 for collaborative initiatives that support the vision
objectives in Healthy People 2010, which address examinations and prevention, eye
diseases, injury and safety and vision rehabilitation. Deadline: August 29, 2008.

This National Council on Aging program is offering funds to help multigenerational and
civic engagement projects document effective local approaches and impact. Deadline for
concept paper: August 1, 2008.