Whenever adults interact with young people, they are working cross-culturally. Even if there appears to be a common cultural heritage between the two, youth culture is different from adult culture, and those differences will affect all aspects of the interaction. These cultural differences become even more pronounced when working with at-risk populations such as homeless, street-dependent youth who, in addition to all the other issues they face, have adapted to a culture of the streets. Street Culture is about understanding this culture and how it affects the behavior and thinking of youth...

Positive Youth Development is an approach to working with young people that supports their innate capacity for resiliency and promotes healthy development. Based on a body of research indicating that certain positive influences ("Protective Factors") in young people's environments contribute to their success and help them overcome challenges in their lives, this approach is increasingly being integrated into all youth work fields, from education to juvenile justice, as well as becoming a required approach by many funding sources. The challenge for youth work professionals and organizations is...