Center For Positive Youth Development
Who We Are
The Center for Positive Youth Development (CPYD) is housed within the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Kansas. We investigate adolescent development with particular attention to afterschool and out-of-school time contexts—spaces that are critical to young people's growth but often underexamined by research. CPYD is led by Center Director David Hansen, whose scholarship on adolescent agency, motivation, and identity formation shapes the center's research agenda and programmatic direction.
Center Goals
Integrate research, training, and practice
Developing holistic supports that connect scholarly findings to what practitioners do every day with young people.
Equip the youth development workforce
Making recent, relevant research accessible to afterschool programs and practitioners so they can better respond to youth needs and raise program quality.
Advance knowledge through scholarship
Conducting research projects that address pressing questions in the field and contribute to the broader evidence base for positive youth development.
Build connections locally, statewide, and nationally
Facilitating partnerships and networks that promote youth development at every level—from neighborhood programs to national policy conversations.
Develop the next generation of practitioners
Graduate students engage in meaningful experiential learning through CPYD's research and partnerships, building the future workforce for youth development.
Build lasting systems for program impact
Helping youth development organizations create sustainable infrastructure so that improvements take root and endure over time.