Social Science Research Council

This Directory provides brief descriptions and links to the websites of a range of organizations, institutions, and networks involved in knowledge production on issues related to youth, civic engagement/activism, or both. At present, 41 organizations can be accessed. All resources listed in the directory conduct research or provide capacity building for research as a component of their activities. The common thread is that each organization contributes to our understanding of youth in a global context and how they engage with the world.

This directory will be updated periodically. For inquiries or suggestions of resources, contact Sion Dayson at dayson@ssrc.org

Academy for Educational Development (AED) Center for Youth Development and Policy Research
The Center's mission is to create and strengthen the infrastructures that support positive development for all youth in America. Activities include public education, research, policy formulation, and technical assistance aimed at U.S. communities which seek to expand opportunities and support systems for disadvantaged young people.

Applied Research Center
The Applied Research Center is a public policy, educational and research institute whose work emphasizes issues of race and social change.

Australian Clearinghouse for Youth Studies
ACYS provides information products and services for those working in the youth field and for anyone with an interest in youth. This includes practitioners in areas such as health and education, researchers, policy-makers, youth workers and youth service providers, as well as students and parents.

Australian Youth Research Centre
The Australian Youth Research Centre is located in the Department of Educational Policy and Management, Faculty of Education at The University Of Melbourne. It was established in 1988 in response to a recognised need by the youth affairs sector for relevant and up to date research on the issues facing young people today.

Board on Children, Youth and Families, The National Academies
The Board on Children, Youth, and Families (BCYF) brings the multidisciplinary knowledge and analytic tools of the behavioral, health and social sciences to bear on the development of policies, programs, and services for children, youth, and families.

Carmel Institute for Social Studies
Independent, inter-disciplinary institution dedicated to research, policy design and advocacy on societal and national issues.

Center for Communication and Civic Engagement, University of Washington
The Center for Communication and Civic Engagement is dedicated to research, the creation of citizen resources and student-designed learning experiences that develop new areas of positive citizen involvement in politics and social life. Our primary focus is to understand how new information technologies can supplement more traditional forms of communication to facilitate civic engagement.

Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE)
CIRCLE promotes research on the civic and political engagement of Americans between the ages of 15 and 25. Although CIRCLE conducts and funds research, not practice, the projects that we support have practical implications for those who work to increase young people's engagement in politics and civic life. CIRCLE is also a clearinghouse for relevant information and scholarship. CIRCLE is based in the University of Maryland's School of Public Policy.

Center for Liberal Education and Civic Engagement
A partnership between the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), the foremost leader of liberal education, and Campus Compact, the nationally known organization promoting service learning. Acting as a catalyst and incubator of new ideas, campus-based innovations, research, and collaborations, the Center seeks to deepen understandings of the relation of liberal education to service and civic responsibilities. In so doing, the Center links this new understanding to actions that address complex, urgent social problems.

Center for Social Development, Washington University
A research center within the GWB School of Social Work at Washington University focused on social development issues defined as the developing and building capacities of individuals, families, and communities.

Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching, and Service, Georgetown University
In order to advance justice and the common good, the Center promotes and integrates community-based research, teaching and service by collaborating with diverse partners and communities.

The Center for Youth and Communities, Brandeis University
Since its inception in 1983, the Center for Youth and Communities (CYC) has established a national reputation as one of the nation's leading research centers, and professional development and policy organizations in youth and community development. CYC is part of the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University.

Centre for Children and Young People, Southern Cross University
The Centre for Children and Young People (CCYP) has been established at Southern Cross University to provide an interdisciplinary approach to research, education and advocacy linked to children and young people.

Chapin Hall Center for Children, The University of Chicago
Building knowledge to serve children is the mission of the Chapin Hall Center for Children. Located at the University of Chicago, Chapin Hall is a research and development center that brings the highest standards of scholarship and the intellectual resources of one of the world's great research universities to the real-world challenges of policymakers and service providers struggling to ensure that children grow, thrive, and take their place in a formidable world.

Children, Youth and Environments (Journal)
Children, Youth and Environments (CYE) is a refereed journal and multidisciplinary, international network dedicated to improving the lives of young people. The journal targets researchers, policy makers and professionals and is guided by a distinguished Editorial Advisory Board.

The Childwatch International Research Network
Childwatch International is a nonprofit, nongovernmental network of institutions engaged in research for children. The Network seeks to strengthen child-centered research to contribute towards real improvement in children's well-being.

Data Center/Impact Research for Social Justice
The DataCenter's mission is to provide social justice advocates, especially the poor and people of color, access to strategic information, analysis, and research skills that will help them conduct more effective campaigns.

Economic and Social Research Council
The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is the UK's leading research funding and training agency addressing economic and social concerns.

European Centre
The European Centre is an international centre for social research, policy, information and training. It is an intergovernmental organization focused on social welfare, affiliated to the United Nations.

The Global Program on Youth, University of Michigan School of Social Work, Ann Arbor
The Global Program on Youth is establishing broad-based groups of scholars, policy makers, and service providers who are working together to address critical and timely issues related to children and youth. This innovative program is addressing the translation from research to practice in an effort to make research more accessible and applicable to policy makers and practitioners.

Highlander Research and Education Center
The Highlander Center is a residential popular education and research organization. Highlander sponsors educational programs and research into community problems, as well as a residential Workshop Center for social change organizations and workers active in the South and internationally. Generations of activists have come to Highlander to learn, teach, and prepare to participate in struggles for justice. Runs "The Young and The Restless" and "Children's Justice Camp" in addition to its adult programs.

Innovation Center for Community and Youth Development
The Innovation Center for Community and Youth Development connects thinkers and leaders of all ages to develop fresh ideas, forge new partnerships, and design strategies that engage young people and their communities.

Innovations in Civic Participation
Founded in 2001, ICP is a non-profit social change organization that provides expertise, ideas, information, research, and advocacy support in the United States and around the world to develop and strengthen policies and programs that promote civic engagement through service. Their most recent report, "Youth Engaged in Service: A Strategy for Promoting Democracy," can be accessed here.

The Institute for Community Research
The Institute for Community Research (ICR) uses the tools of research to build community capacity and foster collaborative community-based partnerships. By gathering information in partnership with residents, we are helping communities locally and globally to ask better questions and get better answers about the complex problems they face.

Institute for Volunteering Research
Initiative of Volunteering England and the Centre for Institutional Studies at the University of East London to develop knowledge and understanding of volunteering with particular relevance to policy and practice. Produces Voluntary Action journal.

International Institute for Child Rights & Development, Center for Global Studies, University of Victoria
The International Institute for Child Rights and Development works in partnership with a multidisciplinary team of academics, front-line workers, community members, policy-makers and professionals from universities, professional associations, NGO's, government agencies and UN organizations.

The International Sociological Association (ISA), Research Committee on Sociology of Youth, RC 34
The aim of RC34 is to contribute to the development of theory and practice of youth sociology and youth research on an international level, uniting professional knowledge, scientific consciousness, and social commitment of its members to work on problems and issues of youth on a local, regional, and international level.

John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities, Stanford University
The key strategies employed by the Gardner Center are: bridging research and practice, supporting community action, and sharing what works.

The Journal of Youth Studies
Journal of Youth Studies is an international scholarly journal devoted to a theoretical and empirical understanding of young people's experiences and life contexts.

Movement Strategy Center's Movement Research Action Project (MRAP)
MSC's MRAP project works to advance research on the role of young people in movement building, build and support a network of scholars who are linking research to activist networks, and bring intellectual work being developed by practitioners into academic debates.

Nordic Youth Research Information
NYRI is the general organisation of a range of networking activities and information systems for youth research in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden).

The Observatory of Youth and Society
The Observatory of Youth and Society, based at the University of Quebec, collects and analyzes information on young people and distributes the results. Website mostly in French, with some information in English and Spanish.

Social Policy Research Associates
Founded in 1991, Social Policy Research Associates (SPR) is a nationally recognized research, evaluation, and technical assistance firm located in Oakland, California. We specialize in providing rigorous and responsive services related to employment assistance, job training, education, youth programs, and comprehensive social services.

Society for Research on Adolescence
Society for Research on Adolescence (SRA) is a dynamic, multidisciplinary, international organization dedicated to understanding adolescence through research and dissemination.

Stanford Center on Adolescence

Third Millenium Foundation Harvard Research Project
The aim of the Harvard Research Consortium is to strengthen common themes. One common goal is to study the linkages between cultural forms of tolerance and prejudice that are experienced by children and youth growing up and the forms of positive or negative orientations to others that develop later in life.

Trust for the Study of Adolescence
TSA was founded in 1989 to help improve the lives of young people and families. Our work is derived from the belief that there is a lack of knowledge and understanding about adolescence and young adulthood.

What Kids Can Do
WKCD is a national not-for-profit organization founded in 2001 for the purpose of making public the voices and views of adolescents. This is a link to their Research Directory.

Youth Action Research Group
The Youth Action Research Group (YARG) involves community residents in defining, researching and critically analyzing the challenges facing their neighborhoods. The young people in YARG learn participatory action research methods and ethnographic techniques to better understand their surrounding community for the purpose of addressing pressing social issues.

Youth Action Research Institute
The Youth Action Research Institute (YARI) (formerly the National Teen Action Research Center) of the Institute for Community Research was formed in 1996 based on nearly a decade of work on youth-led action research for development, risk prevention, and social change. YARI promotes the use of action research for personal, group, and community development. Participants include children, preadolescents, and youth of diverse ethnic backgrounds as well as sexual minority youth.

Youth in Focus
Since 1990, Youth In Focus has developed and field-tested Youth REP (Youth-led action Research, Evaluation and Planning) - a powerful technique for bringing young people's energy and information to bear upon social and organizational challenges.