NEW! Reach Out: Enhancing Services to Out-of-Home Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Questioning Youth. Evaluation 2004-2006. Marian Wolfsun and Sharon Vardatira. 23 pp.
In our years of experience serving at-risk youth in New England, one population has continually emerged as being particularly vulnerable: lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning youth. In rural areas such as northern New England, the needs of LGBTQ youth are made more acute by the level of geographic and social isolation. In response, in 2004 NEN began implementing Reach Out, funded by the Tides Foundation, NH Endowment for Health, Gamma Mu Foundation, and the Gill Foundation. The three-year project sought to drive sustainable, institutional changes in the capacity of youth-serving agencies to effectively serve LGBTQ youth. The goal was to sensitize agencies about the specific needs of LGBTQ youth, thereby making the agencies more welcoming and thus more effective for this population of young people. The work was not easy, and the outcomes were mixed. But progress was made.

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Goodbye, Hello: A Generation of Executives Reflects on Retirement and the Future of Services for Children and Youth. Nancy Jackson and Sharon Vardatira. 18 pp.

We all know that the nonprofit world is heading for a leadership crisis as Baby Boomers retire and are replaced by far less-numerous Gen-Xers. The crisis is expected to be particularly acute for youth service agencies, which came into their own only in the 1970s, and now face losing the execs who founded them. This report includes in-depth interviews with 15 soon-to-be retiring executive directors in New England, and their thoughts on what it will take to make the next generation of leaders job-ready.

To view or download the report in PDF form, click to here.


Where to Now? Innovative Housing Options for Homeless Young Adults Leaving TLPs. Kelly Agnese, Kate Golden and Jen Tyson.30 pp.

Like all agency services, 'aftercare' housing programs are specifically designed to build the competence of young people and teach them how to live on their own. But housing programs have a more specific goal as well: to prevent young people from becoming homeless. This report is based on a comprehensive literature review and a series of interviews with the directors of five agencies and one housing expert in the field, all selected for their unusual commitment to developing innovative housing programs for youth leaving agency care. 'Where to Now?' is the second in a series of reports NEN has produced on issues critical to transitional living programs serving youth. Edited by Melanie Wilson and Doug Tanner.

To view or download the report in PDF form, click to here.

Adolescent Heart & Soul: Achieving Spiritual Competence in Youth-Serving Agencies. Melanie Wilson, with Cindy Carraway-Wilson and Nancy Jackson. 56 pp. softcover.

In this first-ever study of spiritual programming in youth-service agencies, New England Network for Child, Youth & Family Services describes how spirituality programs – both secular and religious – look in agencies that do them well. These 'spiritually competent' agencies recognize spirituality as an important component of a holistic therapeutic approach, and deliver their spiritual programs in conformance with widely accepted standards of clinical care and the principles of youth development. This report is indispensable for social service professionals interesting in incorporating spiritual activities into their own practice with young people.

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Unlocking the Potential of Homeless Older Adolescents: Factors Influencing Client Success in Four New England Transitional Living Programs.
Megan Bartlett, Abby Copeman, Joshua Golin, Daniel Miller and Elana Needle. 36 pp.

This report examines the forces – internal and external – that shape the services that federally funded transitional living programs offer, and that influence their success and appearance of success. The study includes a detailed look at four TLPs in New England and interviews with their staff, and places the agencies' stories in the context of the outcome data they report to the federal government. Edited by Melanie Wilson and Doug Tanner.

To view or download the report in PDF form, click here.


A Part of You So Deep: What Vulnerable Adolescents Have to Say About Spirituality.
Melanie Wilson. 48 pp. softcover.

This groundbreaking report is the second in a series by New England Network for Child, Youth & Family Services exploring spirituality in the lives of troubled adolescents. The first report, Practice Unbound, examined the therapeutic use of spiritually oriented activities by 200 youth-service agencies across the country. 'A Part of You So Deep' focuses on teens themselves, using extensive focus group interviews, personal interviews and surveys to uncover their experiences of spirituality and their attitudes toward a variety of spiritual activities, both secular and religious. The findings, full of passion, confusion, disappointment, and yearning, illuminate the complicated inner world of our society's most vulnerable teenagers, and offer crucial insight to counselors, teachers and anyone else committed to nurturing the spiritual lives of young people.

This publication is sold out. To view or download the report in PDF form, click here.

Practice Unbound: A Study of Secular Spiritual and Religious Activities in Work with Adolescents. Melanie Wilson, 74 pp. softcover.

This report provides one of the first comprehensive looks at the ways human service agencies are introducing secular spiritual and religious programming in work with troubled adolescents. Of a random sample of nearly 200 youth-serving agencies, reaching from the U.S. eastern seaboard to Alaska, Hawaii and Guam, 60% report using at least one secular activity – guided visualization and 12-step groups are the most common – and 35% offer at least one religious activity. Both secular and faith-based organizations that already offer spiritual activities strongly support them and intend to do more, but say they need more training. Of those agencies resistant to incorporating spiritual activities, many cite the dearth of conclusive evidence showing that it is beneficial. Others claim they lack time, money and manpower. And still others have the impression that instituting such programs, especially those with religious content, could jeopardize board and community support as well as public funding. In fact, though, the risk of losing government funding appears to be minimal.

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To order, contact NEN.