Knowledge
The Knowledge Center contains reports and presentations authored by the National Assembly and others. This
information is provided for those engaged in research, practice and policy on human services and community
development; and on nonprofit leadership. All material prepared by others is provided by permission from the author.
Featured Publications
Keeping Kids on Track in the Middle School Years
- Ensuring youth in the middle school years are connected to the community can prevent them from later disconnecting from school and work. Youth development staff, volunteers, and mentors can play a pivotal role in building healthy, sustained connections for young people. According to a new National Assembly brief, the key is making sure that youth-serving adults have certain competencies to get and keep kids on track toward high school, college, and careers. Read publication»
A Shared Vision for Youth: Common Outcomes and Indicators
- Problems affecting kids are well-documented. How do we know how well children in a given community are progressing, considering that school, child care, afterschool programs and so many other community resources are a part of kids’ lives? Are there desirable outcomes for all children that the entire community is aiming for? There should be. The National Collaboration for Youth, which is the longest-standing coalition of national agencies committed to positive youth development, has begun to tackle this challenge and we’ve documented our findings in this publication. Read publication»
Retaining and Developing High Potential Talent
- Despite the economic downturn, in 2012 organizations across the United States still find themselves in a war for top talent – and successful organizations do not stop with just attracting and hiring efforts, but utilize their resources to retain employees by providing a supportive environment. Given the increasing diversity of our nation, attracting, retaining employees from diverse backgrounds is a competitive advantage. For national nonprofit human services employers, recent (2011) research, distilled from the panoply of Talent Management practices in which to invest, suggests three that would offer the most value at the lowest cost: Onboarding; Employee Mentoring; and Succession Planning. NHSA’s Retaining and Developing High Potential Talent toolkit is built on those recommendations, and offers readers best practices information and mini‐cases from within our membership on these 3 areas of talent management and development work. Read publication»
Improving Federal Collaboration for Homeless Children and Youth
- The National Collaboration for Youth has released a joint policy brief on “Improving Federal Collaboration for Homeless Children and Youth” with the Campaign to End Child Homelessness, National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth, and National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty. The brief contains recommendations on how the federal government can enhance policy and program coordination to improve outcomes for homeless children and youth. Read publication»
Putting Human Needs on the National Radar Screen
- Putting Human Needs on the National Radar Screen responds to the fact that human services were some of the first programs to be cut at both state and federal levels as well as to the lack of awareness among the public and public officials about the importance of these programs to vulnerable people. The brief suggests usable language, but also recommends establishing new narratives about the collective contributions of related human service and community development programs. Read publication»
An Invitation to the Big Picture: Implementing a Local Collaboration for Youth (LCY) in Your Community
- The NCY and the Forum for Youth Investment produced a guide to forming and sustaining Local Collaborations for Youth (LCY). An LCY is a means for local child- and youth-serving agencies to pool their collective expertise, resources, and voice in ‘whole-community’ efforts to improve outcomes for children and youth. It’s a chance to lift your eyes from the pressure of your agency’s own measurable outcomes and take a look at the Big Picture of child and youth well-being in your community. Read publication»
The Impact of Youth Development Programs On Student Academic Achievement
This brief cites the importance of a full-range of developmental assets, in school, in the home and in the community, that youth need to succeed. It indicates that “meaningful progress in improving educational outcomes must involve multiple stakeholders and a variety of sustained efforts over time.”
Read publication»The New Community Collaboration Manual
- This oldie-but-goldie was last published in 1997 but remains relevant today. Based on evaluations of community-based collaborative efforts, the then-National Assembly of National Voluntary Health and Social Welfare Organizations produced this step by step guide to forming, organizing and sustaining a successful collaboration, including pitfalls and success factors. It is a foundational resource to the soon-to-be-published Local Collaboration for Youth Toolkit. Read publication»
Riding Superman's Cape: Youth Agencies and Education Reform
What role do child and youth-serving organizations have in education reform? The film "Waiting for Superman" stimulates a lot of discussion about education reform, but is the Nation's focus on educating youth or fixing schools? National Assembly CEO, Irv Katz, observes that it is mostly the latter and that while schools need help, there are many more resources that could go toward educating America's children. This essay notes that billions are invested in child and youth development agencies, that these agencies serve the vast majority of American children, and that they also contribute to the development and education of children. It suggests that these organizations be brought to the table in developing and implementing strategies to close the achievement gap.
Read publication»Through a New Lens: Toward a Fundamental Reframing of ‘‘the Client’’
As those of us in human services well know, the scope and implications of these conditions are alarming. Increased health problems, higher incidence of domestic violence and substance abuse, increased likelihood of dropping out of school, and diminished prospects for the future are only some of the risks associated with financial instability and impoverishment. Simultaneously, our human services infrastructure – at both the community and government levels – shudders under the weight of the crisis as it struggles to keep up with the increased need, despite a significant decline in philanthropic giving, federal funding that is limited to “economic stimulus” purposes, and near-bankrupt state budgets.
Read publication»Reinventing, Re-imagining Voluntarism and the Voluntary Sector
- Irv Katz observes that the nonprofit sector sells itself short by not using clear language about what it is, how complex it is, and how essential it is to society. He asserts that language is a part of the solution, opting for terms like civic sector and civic enterprise over nonprofit sector and charity. Other strategies are suggested, including competing for talent. Read publication»