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About the Institute:
The Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development is a
laboratory within the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child
Development at Tufts University. The Institute has the mandate
and goal to be a center of excellence for the conduct and
dissemination of top-tier scholarship and for the education and
professional development of graduate and undergraduate students
interested in enhancing the lives of diverse children, families,
and communities.
Vision
The Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development
envisions a world wherein the strengths possessed by all young
people are used to promote their positive development, life
chances, and civic engagement, and, as well, to advance the
institutions of civil society. Predicated on the generation and
application of developmental research, the promotion of positive
development among diverse youth will occur through integrated
civic actions of practitioners, policy makers, and young people
themselves.
Values
- We value and celebrate the diversity of individuals,
families, communities, and cultures
- We value social justice
- We value democracy and the institutions of civil society
- We value the integration of applied developmental science
and the education and professional training of the next
generation of scholars, practitioners, and policy makers working
to further the positive development of all youth.
Beliefs
- All young people have strengths
- All communities possess resources to enhance the development of youth
- All youth have the right to the resources necessary to
support their positive development
- The potential to develop in more positive ways may be actualized
when there is an alignment across life of the strengths of youth and
of their families, schools, and communities
- Youth civic engagement and thriving youth develop in mutually
influential ways. By strengthening this relationship we enhance
the lives of youth and further the institutions of civil society
Mission
The Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development helps
build the knowledge base vital for researchers, policy makers,
and practitioners to foster positive development, improved life
chances, and contributions of young people. This commitment is
rooted in an evidence-based approach to teaching, research, and
application that emphasizes the strengths of youth and their
families, schools, and communities.
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