YEF Institute Strategy Guides

Published with support from The Wallace Foundation, this strategy guide developed by the YEF Institute and the Harvard Family Research Project highlights six strategies for collecting and using data to assess and improve local afterschool programs.

This report synthesizes the key findings on the utility of evaluation for California Cities Gang Prevention Network sites and provides an overview of the fundamental principles to consider when developing an evaluation of a comprehensive gang and youth violence prevention initiative. 

Within a comprehensive violence prevention strategy, pursuing and sustaining preventive efforts to minimize future violence well in advance typically poses the greatest challenge for municipal leaders.  This action guide, published as part of the California Cities Gang Prevention Network initiative, highlights strategies, action steps and existing city approaches to prevention.

This action guide, published as part of the California Cities Gang Prevention Network initiative, highlights strategies and action steps for evaluating comprehensive gang violence prevention efforts.

The risk of recidivism is extremely high for the growing numbers of formerly incarcerated people are released from prison, jail, or other correctional facilities.  This action guide, published as part of the California Cities Gang Prevention Network initiative, highlights strategies and action steps for delivering effective reentry services, particularly to gang-affiliated individuals

Published with support from the Surdna Foundation, this guide offers practical tools for promoting meaningful youth participation in local government. 

This guide highlights steps that city leaders can take to connect family, friend and neighbor (FFN) caregivers with the information, resources and support needed to promote early learning and healthy child development.   

Published with support from the Wallace Foundation, this guide describes strategies that city leaders can use to generate support for expanding access to high-quality out-of-school time activities.

This report published by the National Employment Law Project (NELP) and the YEF Institute highlights innovative local hiring policies that enable people with criminal records to find work, live within the law and give back to their communities.  The guide highlights an emerging trend in which cities “ban the box” that asks about an individual’s criminal record on city job applications.

The YEF Institute's first-ever report on the State of City Leadership for Children and Families highlights the broad range of innovations and trends in municipal leadership to promote child and family well-being, including the nation’s most cutting-edge city strategies in nine areas: early childhood, education, afterschool, youth in transition, violence prevention, family economic success, community wellness, youth civic engagement, and local "infrastructure" for children, youth and families. 

Published with support from the Walter S. Johnson Foundation and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, this guide highlights strategies for helping young people successfully transition from the foster care system and improving access to housing, education, employment, health, and other services.   

This strategy guide, made possible by support from The Wallace Foundation, describes several options that city officials may consider for supporting and sustaining local programs. 

This guide, published with support from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, features examples of how municipal leaders are working with the 38 statewide afterschool networks to influence state afterschool funding and policies and to strengthen local programs. 

This strategy paper highlights comprehensive, citywide gang prevention initiatives in San Jose, San Bernardino, and Santa Rosa, Calif., and lessons that emerged from the first year of the California Cities Gang Prevention Network.

Produced by the Forum for Youth Investment in collaboration with the YEF Institute and the National Conference of State Legislatures, this report highlights key tasks for creating an effective youth council.

This tool is designed to help local officials better understand the status of young children in their cities, as well as the existing local activities or initiatives that support successful early childhood development.

This report describes how state and local governments have strategically funded EITC outreach campaigns to help low-income families become more financially secure and bring additional federal dollars into local communities.

The platform identifies the "essential infrastructure" needed for sustained progress on behalf of children, youth, and families, and offers a menu of ideas and action steps that cities of any size can take in each of seven issue areas. 

This agenda booklet offers policy and program options, as well as a broad range of action steps for local officials seeking new ways of doing business that will lead to better outcomes for children, families, and their neighborhoods.

This report provides municipal officials with approaches and specific technology options for using screening tools to connect eligible residents to key state and federal benefits.  

This report, produced in partnership with the Finance Project, explores federal funding sources and financing options for transitional jobs programs that serve ex-offenders, homeless individuals, and youth.

This strategy guide outlines  steps that municipal leaders should consider when conducting a needs assessment of local afterschool programs.

The YEF Institute, in cooperation with AED's Center for Youth Development and Policy Research, produced this publication to give an overview of effective approaches and promising strategies for reengaging disconnected youth.

This strategy brief contains an overview of the major federal and state funding sources for early care and education, and a discussion of financing options that city leaders can use when funding early childhood initiatives.

This guide was prepared for cities participating in Little Kids, Big Plans Week, which took place in Oct. 2003. However, the guide provides information that can be used in designing a community forum any time of year, and includes suggested steps, format options, and sample agendas and press releases.