ABSTRACT
How can community-based youth programs promote and achieve desired developmental outcomes for adolescents? Youth organizations operating under the banner of positive youth development have not traditionally anchored answers to such questions in empirical research or theory-driven models. The field of youth development has been grounded primarily in practical understandings of youth played out in a loose system of nontheoretically driven practices that relied heavily on organizational tradition and the common wisdom of the time. Recent analysis (Benson & Saito, 2001; Eccles & Gootman, 2002) suggests the field is now ready to use the evidence of research and theory, as well as best practice experience, to define its goals, outcomes, and program strategies. The theory of developmental intentionality responds to this readiness with a framework informed by research, theory, and practice. The framework captures the dynamic relationship between developmental outcomes, youth engagement, and intentionality in the philosophy, design, and delivery of program supports and opportunities for young people.
