Shaping the Future of American Youth

Anniversaries are especially appropriate occasions for reflection-reflection on where we Ahave been and, more important, where we wish to go. In that spirit, the American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF) decided to celebrate its Tenth Anniversary in January 2003 by inviting 14 of America’s leading experts on youth affairs - analysts, activists, advocates, institution-builders - to write the essays and commentaries in this volume. These leaders accepted our challenge to step back from the press of their fully committed working days and reconsider the development of their particular field of youth affairs over the past decade, take a leap into the future, and sketch their personal hopes and visions for a positive and creative future for American youth in the decade ahead.