Positive Youth Development as a Strategy for Addressing Readiness and Equity: A Commentary.

Attention to addressing child and youth disparities associated with race, gender, and class has significantly increased the demand for guidance on how to help local systems and organizations that already serve low-income youth and youth of color sharpen program components and improve program practices in ways that address the broader and often more complex needs of these populations. In this commentary, the author reflects on how the research findings and themes in the articles included in the special section (a) advance our ability to answer specific questions such as how to improve social skill growth among trauma-exposed children and (b) reinforce the importance of continuing to link positive youth development to the tenets of program quality and self-transformation.