The meshing of youth development and community building

Practitioners, policymakers, residents, workers, researchers, and even funders have an opportunity to merge their many practices into a more comprehensive and focused approach to change communities substantially. People are affiliated with a number of communities, and not just those with geographical definitions. There are communities based on gender, sexual orientation, physical ability, race, ethnicity, and institutions such as family and school. Building the bridges between youth development and community building and merging their principles and practices will create a force of change. This chapter lays the foundation for meshing the worlds of youth development and community building to make powerful connections that will be important to the community of youth and bring them into wider circles and forces that ultimately will be important to the adult community as well.