Project: THE LEVITAN YOUTH POLICY NETWORK   

Sponsor: Sar Levitan Center
Status: Marion Pines, Michael Ford, Darnell Adams, Irene Hechler, and Susan Grossman  
IPS Staff: In process  

Purpose and Approach
In 1995, the Sar Levitan Center was created at IPS to carry on the work of Sar Levitan, a noted social policy analyst and practitioner who devoted his life to various public policy issues dealing mainly with disadvantaged populations. The Levitan Center convenes an informal group of national researchers, policy leaders, foundation officers, and practitioners, known as the Levitan Youth Policy Network, to focus on the serious challenges presented by the growing number of out-of-school youth. The group meets several times a year to discuss youth policy issues, describe the demographic changes, research guiding principles on what works, think creatively about existing funding streams that might be redirected, develop long range strategies for sustained public support, and lay out a blueprint for connecting activities. In addition, the Center has held focus groups with youth around the country to better understand their perspectives.

Results
Since the Levitan Center’s publication of Generation of Challenge in 1997, Center staff have presented findings to many national organizations, from the National Center on Education and the Economy to the National Association of Service and Volunteer Corps. This publication led to several subsequent monographs. For a listing, see www.levitan.org.

Building a comprehensive system of services for out-of-school youth, the Levitan Center has organized one- and two-day training symposia for over 200 urban areas for the U.S. Department of Labor and state youth development agencies since 1997.