CYD: Notes From the Publisher

Renewal is synonymous with springtime... As winter gives way to spring in New England, it does so grudgingly, and spring reciprocates with an astonishing dance of approach-avoidance choreographed and rehearsed over centuries. Eventually, spring prevails and signals a season of growth, renewing, restoring, restaging and refreshing. Everything seems a little easier in springtime. We are more agile, more able to take on new projects, to let some go, to follow through on belated New YearÕs resolutions, to remember and to discover why we do what we do and how we can do it better.

So it is with us and CYD Journal. All change and creativity depends on breaking free from a past "season"-to leap and question and question and leap in order to learn and grow. Since we started publishing the Journal, the CYD movement has grown by leaps and bounds-gained strength in numbers and witnessed emerging scientific evidence to support its principles.[1] In short, it is moving from the margins to the mainstream. There is a new openness to "youth engagement," a noticeable investment in "youth as resources,"[2] a heightened awareness of the power and value of "community building/ mobilization" across sectors.[3] In a broader context, these changes are akin to what Maxine Greene, the great social justice educator -- philosopher talks about in The Dialectic of Freedom: [4]

"If we are seriously interested in education for freedom as well as for the opening of cognitive perspectives, it is also important to find a way of developing a praxis of educational consequence that opens the spaces necessary for remaking of a democratic community. For this to happen, there must of course be a new commitment to intelligence, a new fidelity in communication, a new regard for imagination. It would mean fresh and sometimes startling winds blowing through the...nation. It would mean the granting of audibility to numerous voices seldom heard before, and at once, an involvement with all sorts of young people being provoked to make their own the multilinguality needed for structuring of contemporary experience and thematizing lived worlds."

Among other things, we have come to think of the Journal as a vehicle for helping others realize the power of "voices seldom heard before." Indeed, Barry Chechoway (University of Michigan and a guest editor for this issue) said recently, "CYD Journal is a pioneering effort to provide a vehicle for publication of critical articles that advance knowledge of youth development and community development. What an outstanding way to share information and ideas in the field." Likewise, Elaine M Johannes, Extension Specialist at Kansas State University, remarked, "CYD [Journal has] introduced 'state-of-the-science'topics to national youth development leaders and researchers in a style and format that are accessible to practitioners." A scan of our published "letters to the editor" over the past three years also reflects the value and appreciation of the "voices seldom heard before." We are pleased with this reputation; it suits us as educational entrepreneurs. As leaders and managers, we are also well aware of the challenges of sustainability in a diversified and growing field.

When CYD Journal was launched, it was in many ways ahead of its time and one of a kind. Today, there are more journals with big supporters addressing CYD-for example, New Directions for Youth Development (Jossey-Bass) and Applied Developmental Science (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates). Perhaps more theory and research than practice and youth voice-but it is a start in broadening the platform for CYD knowledge development and dissemination.

We are restaging and redefining what we do and how we do it-moving from print publishing of CYD Journal to web-based "journaling" of CYD.

So what has this all got to do with winter turning to spring and a renewal note to our readers? This: We are restaging and redefining what we do and how we do it-moving from print publishing of CYD Journal to web-based "journaling" of CYD. The data for this decision is compelling beyond our musings and analysis of the climate and evolution of the CYD movement. People-you, our readers-favor web-based information for its timeliness and accessibility, its conservation of paper and printing supplies, and its considerable cost savings. You are "voting" with your actions, and we got the message: visitors to www.cydjournal.org outnumber CYD Journal subscriptions 1000 to 1! In the near future we intend to enhance our website with links and chronicles for the CYD field.

Finally, it has been said that actions speak louder than words-that is true, unless you are a publisher! For a publisher, actions are words, and so, with your help, we will keep the words alive to nurture the movement and to "grant audibility to numerous voices seldom heard" as well as to the voices of the most seasoned and well known in the movement.

Check out our new look soon-the next issue is on leadership: recognizing it, growing it and sustaining it across sectors, across generations and around the world.

Susan P. Curnan is a professor and director of the Institute for Sustainable Development and Center for Youth and Communities at The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University. She is also co-chair of the MBA, MM, and Ph.D. program concentration in Children, Youth, and Families.

Della M. Hughes is a visiting fellow at The Heller Graduate School, Brandeis University, former executive director of the National Network for Youth, and co-founder and president of the Institute for Just Communities.