The authors propose a policy direction for positive and sustainable healthy youth development. The direction they propose transcends prevention and is predicated on building community-based programs. Universities can contribute through teaching and research activities and become partners with communities as they struggle together to build self-sustaining programs that support and reinforce a community’s own desire for self-determination. No policies exist in the United States currently to foster integrated and sustained actions to change the quality of a young person’s life. Innovative efforts are required to convince local, state, and federal officials of the urgent need to develop public initiatives that sustain programs that are effective and to support the development and evaluation of new ones. Universities, communities, and policy makers must create partnerships to foster university-community collaborations based on mutual respect for one another’s knowledge and unique cultural characteristics. Only then can the political, economic, and behavioral resource issues, integral to developing and sustaining programs, be effectively addressed.
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