The family is a critical context for youth development. Whether it is through neighborhood, school, or activities, families are critical to determining which spaces youth are accessing and in which spaces they are learning. Some of these determinations are intentional, such as when a parent registers a child to participate in an activity; other determinations are unintentional, such as a neighborhood highway prevents a child from getting to an afterschool activity. Families are also responsible for the more mundane aspects of youth programs such as cost, transportation, and scheduling. Extension is uniquely positioned to support the health and well-being of youth, and in helping meet various challenges through family engagement. Extension has talented staff with skills and expertise in building community partnerships, working within and on behalf of families and communities, and working in partnership with youth, families, and communities to develop new ways of working. This chapter explores ways in which Extension has promoted positive youth development through family engagement and offers new ways of thinking about how Extension might do this work differently going forward.

4-H, which is the largest youth organization in the country, has evolved over time. Historically, there has been a disconnect between university-based researchers and practitioners who implement 4-H programs in the field. In part because of this mismatch and because there has been a focus on subject matter content, 4-H as an organization has struggled with articulating the theory of change that underlies its programming. Recent developments in understanding the science of learning and development and recent efforts to translate positive youth development research into practice are promising. Based at land-grant universities, 4-H is well positioned to capitalize on these developments and intentionally apply them in practice. This chapter highlights 4-H programming examples to illustrate developmental principles and concludes with next steps to address challenges and increase alignment with developmental science.

In their descriptions and goals, youth programs often refer to helping children and adolescents with the stress and challenges of their day-to-day lives, suggesting that youth programs may be “coping” promoting. Despite existing overlap, however, there is not much linkage of the study of youth programs to stress-coping frameworks nor mention of youth programs in the coping literature. In this chapter, coping intervention methods and approaches are examined as applicable to youth programs, and youth programs that are amenable to a coping perspective are discussed, highlighting conceptual and practical overlap between the two areas. These discussions form a basis for proposed future directions for further integration. Closer alignment between coping interventions and youth programs could provide important new insights into youth development, enhance understanding of coping in natural settings, and expand the reach and effectiveness of youth programming.