The Creative Youth Development National Blueprint (2018) was developed by the CYD National Partnership—in concert with a cross-sector, 10-member national advisory committee and three national working groups—to drive collective action. The purpose of this agenda is to increase access to CYD for American youth and holistically support positive change in the lives of young people.

 

This Blueprint builds on the 2014 Collective Action for Youth Agenda by prioritizing three strategic areas—Visibility and Impact, Funding, and Field-Building—and identifying specific actions for cross-sector advancement of the field. With support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the CYD National Partnership gathered input from more than 650 stakeholders through numerous community conversations throughout the country in 2016 and 2017. The Partnership also commissioned research by the Forum for Youth Investment that mapped opportunities for alignment between CYD and allied youth sectors. Three cross-sector Action Teams were then formed to analyze and distill the research and stakeholder inputs and make final recommendations for the Blueprint.

 

Americans for the Arts was pleased to join the National Guild for Community Arts Education, the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council to form the National Partnership in 2014.

 

The Blueprint can be accessed through the partnership’s interactive website.

 

Photo: Mosaic Singers of Detroit, MI in concert. Copyright Jim West.