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Advocacy Organizations and the Field of Youth Services: Ongoing Efforts to Restructure a Field

Stanford University

Sarah Deschenes

Stanford University

Kathryn Hopkins

Stanford University, khopkins{at}gmail.com

Anne Newman

Stanford University

Milbrey McLaughlin

Stanford University

The field of youth services has undergone many changes in the past few decades, and advocacy organizations play a pivotal role in reconceptualizing this field by promoting better and more coordinated services to youth in need. This article examines how advocacy organizations bring about new conceptions of youth, influence the organization of the field, and ultimately change the way public policy addresses youth’s needs. The authors first describe the field of youth services, a highly fragmented field that has historically focused on youth as problems and targets for intervention. Next, they describe the current reform movement that instead promotes positive youth development. Focusing on the concept of restructuration, they then highlight some of the ways in which three advocacy organizations in San Francisco and Oakland, California, influence the field, and they propose early indicators that suggest how this field is being reorganized.

Key Words: advocacy organizations • youth • social movements • organization theory • public policy

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