The ACT – or Assets Coming Together – for Youth Center of Excellence sponsors a Youth Network in New York City for young people who are interested in making change and supporting the health and well‐being of youth in New York state.
The ACT Youth Network ‐ NYC is a panel of young adult and teen consultants who meet monthly to provide youth perspectives on health‐related projects for the New York State Department of Health, the ACT Center of Excellence, and other organizations. Meetings are held at the CUCE-NYC offices and are led by ACT for Youth Center of Excellence staff Sara Birnel Henderson and Michele Luc. Meet ACT Youth Network Alumni.
The ACT – or Assets Coming Together – for Youth Center of Excellence, was launched in 2000 with generous support from the New York State Department of Health, and is a partnership among Cornell University Cooperative Extension – New York City, Cornell’s Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research – or BCTR – the New York State Center for School Safety, and the University of Rochester Medical Center.
The Center promotes positive youth outcomes and works to reduce risky sexual behavior among youth by advancing the principles of positive youth development and supporting the implementation and evaluation of evidence-based programming.
The Center serves as an intermediary organization that provides technical assistance, training, and evaluation for three youth initiatives funded by the New York State Department of Health: Comprehensive Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention, Successfully Transitioning Youth to Adolescence, and Pathways to Success. In this capacity project staff advance research-based practices, while also learning directly from practitioners about the realities of implementation in the field.
The Center develops and disseminates information and resources, including publications, presentations, online training modules, and curricula to aid those working in the areas of positive youth development and adolescent sexual health.
The Center houses the ACT Youth Network, which serves as a channel for youth voice, particularly in regard to health. The ACT Youth Network is available for consultation on health projects that seek to reach youth. For more information, see the ACT Youth Network brochure here.
Some of the partner agencies and organizations that the ACT Youth Network – NYC has consulted for this year include:
New York State Department of Health’s Bureau of Women, Infant, and Adolescent Health
New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault
New York State Youth Development Team Meeting
Weill Cornell Medical College’s Clinical & Translational Science Center