Website Review: Youth.Gov

YOUTH.GOV is a U.S. government website designed to help educators and others create, maintain, and strengthen youth programs.

A joint project of agencies across the government, the website explores 26 youth topics from after school programs to suicide prevention. Clicking a topic from the list leads to a starting point for information related to the subject or issue. Links are provided to agencies, announcements, data sources, departments, feature articles, hotlines, programs, publications, resources, technical assistance, tools and guides, videos and podcasts, and websites. Web badges and social media tools are provided to share information.

The Youth Voices part of the website focuses on how young people can be change makers in their communities. Examples of teen change makers are provided as well as the chance to nominate youth. The Young Engaged 4 Change area of the website is designed specifically for youth and focuses on change makers. It provides opportunities and tools to help young people explore important topics and get involved in their communities.

The website provides funding search tools that can be used to seek out grants and other approaches to funding youth programs. The collaborations section includes profiles of those involved with initiating, implementing, and sustaining youth programs. The evidence and innovation area of the website provides examples of evidence-based programs and information about the need to build an evidence base. Finally, the website provides search tools for accessing youth information by keywords, agencies, departments, and topics.

Librarians will find this website useful when working with activities that bridge classroom and community projects.

To visit the website, go to http://youth.gov/.

Robin Tanis - Thurs. Oct. 8 to Sat. Oct. 10, 2009

Robin Tanis is the Head Librarian at St. Pius X Catholic High School in Atlanta, GA. At St. Pius, Robin has worked to establish a collaborative partnership with teachers. She was an early pioneer in technology integration bringing computers, automation, and the Internet into the library and then the rest of the school. Robin was the original Webmaster for the school and is still responsible for keeping the Flannery O’Connor Library Website up to date.

Encouraging pleasure reading is a professional interest of Robin’s. Robin is also known for ASPIRE! - - a Summer Reading Enrichment program. She has presented her program at state and national conferences. ASPIRE! was featured in both Knowledge Quest (Sep/Oct 2003, Access to PDF document requires login) and School Library Journal (Jan. 2004). She has established a Teen Library Council to give interested students leadership opportunities. She also moderates the Anime Club.

Learn more about Robin at http://eduscapes.com/sms/overview/tanis.html.

Blog Interaction with Chris Somers - Mon. Oct. 5 to Wed. Oct. 7, 2009

Chris Somers is the media specialist at Indian Creek Middle School in Trafalgar, Indiana. Chris has been successful in securing grants for her school and collaborating with teachers. She is another Indiana teacher librarian who is integrally involved in classrooms and student learning and who is always looking for new and interesting opportunities.

Learn more about Chris and her professional interests and expertise at:
Chris Somers http://eduscapes.com/sms/overview/somers.html.

You can also visit her school's and media center websites:
Indian Creek Middle School http://www.nhj.k12.in.us/icms/
Media Center website http://www.nhj.k12.in.us/icms/library/index.htm