Positive youth development

Positive youth development (PYD) programs are designed to optimize youth developmental progress. This is sought through a positivistic approach that emphasizes the inherent potential, strengths, and capabilities youth hold. PYD differs from other approaches within youth development work in that it rejects an emphasis on trying to correct what is considered wrong with children's behavior or development, renouncing a problem-oriented lens. Instead, it seeks to cultivate various personal assets and external contexts known to be important to human development.

Youth development professionals live by the motto originally coined by Karen Pittman, "problem free is not fully prepared", as they work to grow youth into productive members of society. Seen through a PYD lens, young people are not regarded as "problems to be solved"; rather, they are seen as assets, allies, and agents of change who have much to contribute in solving the problems that affect them most. Programs and practitioners seek to empathize with, educate, and engage children in productive activities in order to help youth "reach their full potential". Though the field is still growing, PYD has been used across the world to address social divisions, such as gender and ethnic differences.