ABSTRACT
In the last decade, the youth development field had successfully shifted the public dialogue and research base of youth work from one that was deficit oriented to one that articulated the kinds of supports and opportunities young people need to become healthy and functioning adults (Connell & Gambone, 2000; Gambone & Arbreton, 1997; Pittman & Irby, 1996). While youth development research and policies had created a more holistic public dialogue about the developmental process, it did so without due attention to the environments and sociopolitical context in which development occurs (Ginwright & James, 2002; Mohamed & Wheeler, 2001). Neighborhood and community factors such as poverty, unemployment, violence, and underresourced schools impede civic participation and are serious barriers to the developmental process (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Brooks-Gunn, Duncan, & Aber, 1997; Chalk & Phillips, 1996; Garbarino, 1995). Examining such factors is an important step to addressing the systematic barriers that impede the positive development of young people.
