GPN Speaker Series: Benjamin Houltberg (President and CEO, Search Institute)

“Transforming Pathology into Purpose: A New Vision for Positive Youth Development”

For over three decades, Search Institute’s applied research has been foundational to the practice field of youth development across multiple sectors and systems. Together with other innovators in the field, our work sparked the Positive Youth Development (PYD) movement, which coalesced around the belief that all young people have strengths and reshaped how youth-serving programs and professionals, as well as neighborhoods, families, businesses, healthcare providers, religious institutions, and other resources within young people’s developmental ecosystem, understood and approached adolescence.

Search Institute and the field are now reaching a critical juncture. We’re at a moment with an opportunity for a knowledge transfer to a new generation of PYD scholars who are coming into leadership with both a deep respect for the first wave of PYD and with new sensibilities to more effectively address issues of equity, inclusion, and justice. This is also a time when the newest generation of youth workers — most of whom grew up in the shadow of No Child Left Behind and the hyper-focus on grades and accountability — are hungry for the energy, possibility, and connectedness that come from the deep well of applied knowledge and research available in PYD, particularly when integrated with the new generation of research.

As we continue to achieve our mission of promoting PYD and advancing equity for young people, we are deeply invested in identifying ways to scale our impact sustainably. This work is motivated by a central question: “How might we empower action across the broad youth support ecosystem with a reimagined approach to positive youth development, enabling all youth to thrive?”

In this talk, Ben will share some of the ways Search Institute is thinking about this central question in hopes of stimulating meaningful dialogue and generating fresh perspectives. The goal is to inspire collaborative action and innovative approaches that not only honor the legacy of PYD but also adapt it to meet the complex challenges of today's world. Together, we can forge a path that ensures every young person has the opportunity to thrive.