Q & A: Author Discusses Upcoming Carnegie Report on Youth Groups

In 1990, the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development, a project of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, created the Task Force on Youth Development and Community Programs. The 26-member panel was charged with examining the current activities and potential contributions of U.S. youth organizations in an effort to broaden neighborhood-based services and make them more available to young adolescents, particularly those living in lower-income areas.

Through conducting interviews, youth focus groups, literature reviews, and surveys, and by commissioning 13 papers and reports, the task force has looked at how to improve the youth-development and primary-prevention programs run by national youth groups, independent grassroots organizations, religious youth groups, adult organizations, and public-sector agencies.

The final report of the task force is expected in December. Jane Quinn, the project director at the Carnegie Council and principal author of the report, discussed its preliminary findings with...