About ACT for Youth
ACT (Assets Coming Together) for Youth partners with organizations and communities to create environments, relationships, and systems that support young people from birth through early adulthood. Our research and community-based work engages youth, families, and practitioners to identify needed changes and effective strategies for promoting health and well-being. We combine research-based approaches with lived experience and practice wisdom to drive positive, lasting change.
ACT for Youth offers training, capacity building, and evaluation services to community-based organizations and public health agencies that support young people's health and well-being. A project of the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research at Cornell Human Ecology, ACT for Youth has decades of experience providing research-informed support to community partners who work directly with youth and families. Our major areas of expertise include the positive youth development approach; youth engagement; supporting children and youth with special health care needs; program planning, implementation, and evaluation; digital and social media literacy; and adolescent sexual health, among others.
In our research and evaluation capacity, ACT for Youth uses qualitative and quantitative methods to better understand how to enhance the lives of children and youth. Research and engagement help us learn from young people's lived experience and practitioners' wisdom. Through this translational process, we seek to use what we've learned to improve programs and systems.
In our training and capacity-building role, we help organizations and communities incorporate best practices in youth work and public health. We offer trainings on topics such as:
- positive youth development
- facilitating programs for youth
- youth engagement
- trauma-informed programming
- inclusive program environments
- evidence-based sex education and youth development programs
- public health detailing
Organizations can also contract with us for ongoing technical assistance. As a hallmark of our approach to capacity building, we facilitate connections between practitioners so that we can learn from each other.
The ACT for Youth logo reflects our connection to Urie Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory of development — a foundation of the positive youth development approach and closely aligned with the social determinants of health framework. Young people grow up in families, peer groups, schools, and neighborhoods; they act on and are acted on by circles of influence that include economics, media, politics, health care, and other systems that help or harm development. In all our work, we search for ways to promote equity, agency, belonging, and voice in support of young people's well-being.
ACT for Youth is supported by two major grants (described below) from the New York State Department of Health, as well as other national, state, and local training, research, and evaluation contracts.
ACT for Youth Center for Community Action on Adolescent Health
As the Center for Community Action on Adolescent Health, ACT for Youth is funded by the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) Bureau of Perinatal, Reproductive, and Sexual Health (BPRASH) and the AIDS Institute to build capacity in community-based health initiatives that serve adolescents and young adults. In this role, we provide:
- Resources to aid those working in the areas of positive youth development and adolescent health: publications and presentations, the ACT for Youth Update, and a clearinghouse of resources housed on the website actforyouth.org.
- Capacity building, training, and evaluation services for initiatives funded by BPRASH and the AIDS Institute, including Comprehensive Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention (CAPP), Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP), Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (SRAE), and HIV/STI/HCV prevention programs for young people.
Additional support from federal and other sources has allowed us to create resources for youth development professionals, including curricula and online trainings.
Our work is grounded in the positive youth development approach. We help organizations collaborate with young people to build environments, relationships, and experiences that lead to healthy growth and change — for youth and communities alike.
ACT for Youth CYSHCN Program Center of Excellence
ACT for Youth is funded by the NYSDOH Bureau of Child Health to serve as the Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs (CYSHCN — pronounced "shin") Program Center of Excellence (COE). As such, we collaborate with local CYSHCN programs to directly support families, children, and youth across New York State, and to have a meaningful impact on systems of care.
CYSHCN are children and youth (from birth to age 21) who have or are at increased risk for physical, intellectual, developmental, and/or behavioral or emotional conditions. CYSCHN programs across the state and country work to ensure that all young people "enjoy a full life from childhood through adulthood and thrive in a system that supports their families and their social, health, and emotional needs, ensuring their dignity, autonomy, independence, and active participation in their communities" [1]. This shared vision is articulated in the Health Resources and Services Administration's Maternal and Child Health's Blueprint for Change, national guidance for serving and supporting children, youth, and families.
Families facing special health care needs often find it difficult to piece together everything they need to achieve this vision for their children. Local CYSHCN programs help make that journey less onerous by bridging the gaps between families and services wherever possible. The ACT for Youth CYSHCN COE supports local CYSHCN programs through training, technical assistance, and resource development. To steer this work, family input is continually sought through listening sessions and other mechanisms, helping us identify gaps in systems of care while simultaneously offering family- and person-centered solutions.
ACT for Youth Partners
ACT for Youth is a partnership among Cornell University Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research, Cornell University Cooperative Extension of New York City, the University of Rochester Medical Center, and Weill Cornell Medicine.
Cornell University Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research (BCTR) leads the partnership. A multidisciplinary academic center within the College of Human Ecology, BCTR forges closer links among research, practice, and policy. BCTR projects extend research-based knowledge into practice and incorporate practitioners' needs and insights into research agendas in order to solve real-world problems. BCTR brings to the partnership expertise in translational research, positive youth development, sexual health promotion, evidence-based programming, implementation science, program evaluation, youth and family engagement, and community collaboration.
Cornell University Cooperative Extension of New York City (CUCE-NYC) is a research-based educational organization that addresses the evolving needs of communities, families, and individuals by engaging them in experiential learning opportunities. CUCE-NYC brings expertise in school-based and out-of-school programming, diversity, community health and nutrition, positive youth development, parenting education, and youth civic engagement.
University of Rochester Medical Center Department of Pediatrics, Division of Adolescent Medicine, has more than 40 years of experience in providing community-oriented care to adolescents and their families. As a partner in the ACT for Youth Center for Community Action on Adolescent Health, the University of Rochester brings expertise in adolescent health and development, sexual health, gender development, preventive care, and linking public health with positive youth development.
Weill Cornell Medicine's Pediatric Mental Health Integration Program (PMHIP) integrates behavioral and mental health care into pediatric medical settings to improve the health and well-being of patients and families. As a partner in the ACT for Youth CYSHCN Program Center of Excellence, PMHIP brings clinical expertise and experience working with children and youth with special health care needs, as well as their families.
