Unite For Good on the 25th Anniversary of 9/11

For the 25th anniversary of 9/11, join a million Americans in doing one good deed. Pick yours, put it on the map, and ask someone to unite with you. A new application at 911Day.org makes participating simple. You can discover ideas for good deeds, choose something meaningful to them, pledge to do it, and add your commitment to a growing map of people across the nation and beyond who are choosing to “UNIITE For Good.”

Friday, September 11 at 7:00pm Eastern



The Youth as Solutions® Film Festival (virtual) features a curated collection of short films created by youth leaders documenting how they are addressing real challenges in their communities through service-learning and civic engagement. Leave inspired by the creativity, resilience, and leadership of a generation that is already making a lasting difference.

What does it actually take to develop authentic youth leadership? "What we’ve learned is this: leadership is not a trait you’re born with. It is a skill built through doing, through service-learning, civic engagement, and genuine responsibility. The young people who grow the most are not the ones who sat through a leadership workshop. They’re the ones who were trusted to design a program, lead a team, evaluate an outcome, and then reflect honestly on what went wrong."

"For many young people, the most immediate afterschool commitment is not enrichment, it’s earning money to help their families stay afloat.

This is the tension youth-serving organizations and funders must confront: We say we want to expand opportunity, but many programs are still designed around the assumption that young people can participate if the program is free. That assumption leaves many teens behind. It is not a motivation gap. It is an income gap."

"Positive youth development researchers/practitioners must remain steadfast in providing every young person with developmental assets and relationships. ... All young people are able to realize both their individual purposes and positive contributions to their families, communities and societies. Thriving is this combination of individual purpose plus social contribution."

"Adults often develop plans to support youth. But what happens when the plan doesn’t work? We too often default to asking what’s wrong with the young person rather than interrogating the plan and its implementation. What if we changed the default? What if we engaged youth from the beginning to understand their needs and develop the plan itself? And when the plan doesn’t work, what if we asked them why?"

Teams focused on transportation safety can explore these issues, learn from their communities, and develop youth-led solutions as part of the 2026–27 program. These teams have the opportunity to connect their work with resources and learning from MAD Courses and RMIT University, receiving mentorship and credentials, while creating a documentary to showcase their projects.

The “What’s Next, America?” Community Grant Fund will provide $250,000 in support to help communities, campuses, and K-12 classrooms organize local conversations, identify shared priorities, and move ideas into nonpartisan civic action. Spark Grants are $1,000 grants designed to help communities begin organizing “What’s Next, America?” efforts locally. Civic Action Grants are grants of $2,500 to $5,000 designed to support local, nonpartisan project ideas and nonpartisan civic actions that emerge from “What’s Next, America?” community discussions.

When students are seen as partners instead of recipients in service learning, this method can foster Meaningful Student Involvement when it is focused on transforming education. Service learning as a powerful and authentic avenue for achieving Meaningful Student Involvement. It’s not enough for students to simply perform community service; the experience must be structured to genuinely empower them and integrate their learning with tangible impact.

In nonprofit organizations, government agencies, K-12 schools and communities worldwide, there are a lot of young people and adults who want to meaningfully involve young people today. Often following the same models that have dominated the conversation for more than 25 years, innovation and responsiveness to the challenges of our times hasn’t been at the forefront. Adam F.C. Fletcher’s model of Deep Youth Engagement pushes the conversation further. Strategic engagement is essential for organizations because it drives systemic change and fosters inclusive collaboration across complex structures. It empowers stakeholders, optimizes interconnected processes, and bridges gaps between diverse sectors to achieve measurable social impact.

This volume aims to provide a bridge between practitioners and the scholars who have dedicated their careers to understanding how children and adolescents learn and develop and to identifying the critical factors and opportunities that youth need to thrive.

Break­throughs in brain sci­ence show that young peo­ple need sta­ble rela­tion­ships, mean­ing­ful oppor­tu­ni­ties and strong sup­port to thrive — yet too many grow up with­out them. In Thrive, Lisa M. Law­son reveals how fam­i­lies, com­mu­ni­ties and pub­lic sys­tems can rise to the chal­lenge, offer­ing clear, prac­ti­cal steps to ensure every young per­son has a fair chance to flourish.