Search Institute

By Krysta Oechsle

Graduate Student, Grand Valley State University

Definition

Search Institute is "an independent, nonprofit, nonsectarian organization whose mission is to advance the well-being of adolescents and children by generating knowledge and promoting its application" (Search Institute 2002). It achieves its mission by conducting and producing practical research, publications, tools, training, and conferences for community leaders, young people, and adults who work with youth.

The publications, training and public awareness work of Search Institute is built on a framework developed by their researchers, called the 40 developmental assets. The assets "are positive experiences, relationships, opportunities, and personal qualities that young people need to grow up healthy, caring, and responsible" (Ibid.). Surveys conducted with over one million middle-school through high-school aged youth have confirmed that the more of these factors present in a young person's life, the more healthy, happy and successful is he or she.

Search Institute's work is supported through philanthropic donations, grants and contracts from a number of sources (ie., foundations, corporations, the government), and revenue from product sales and services. Its annual budget is about nine million dollars (Ibid.).

Historic Roots

Search Institute was founded in 1958 by Dr. Merton P. Strommen. His original focus was on the healthy development of young people as an applied social science. The institute initially researched youth in religious settings. Today, the mission has expanded to become a much broader focus of healthy child and youth development in the many and varied settings in society and in which youth function (ie., home, school, church, youth organizations and community groups).

Among the different factors influencing young people today, many can have a long-term positive or negative impact. These include things such as: family relationships, support from members of the community, the effectiveness of the local school, peer influence, values, and social skills. However, these different things are typically studied or identified separately. Search Institute devised a paradigm (a model) that identifies the forty most relevant factors affecting a youth's healthy development (termed "40 developmental assets"). These factors are categorized in the following ways: support, empowerment, boundaries and expectations, positive identity, commitment to learning, positive values, social competencies, and constructive use of time.

The developmental asset framework and terminology began with thirty assets when it was introduced back in 1990. A report titled The Troubled Journey: A Portrait of 6th-12th Grade Youth provided information that identified and measured the initial assets brought to light from a broad survey of young people (Search Institute 2002). Over the years, the number of factors grew as Search Institute continued to research, facilitate studies, conduct discussion and focus groups in an effort to learn more about youth and how they thrive.

Importance

The areas of work within Search Institute assure broad dissemination and application of its asset model. These areas include research, communication, networking, community support and training. The following provides specifics about each area:

Research: Search Institute uses applied scientific research on youth development to find ways "to strengthen and deepen the scientific foundations of the developmental assets framework through studies on positive child and adolescent development" (Ibid.). Search's survey services unit provides profiles of youth for interested school districts and communities to better understand their young people's health, based on the developmental asset framework.

Communication: Building developmental assets is done through a wide variety of publications and tools useful to leaders, parents and young people in any organization or community location. Search Institute publishes resources which are presenting, interpreting and applying the research, while sharing innovative ideas from communities involved in "asset-building" (Ibid). They also provide information through their Web site and quarterly Assets magazine.

Networking: There are a number of opportunities provided by Search Institute for leaders and practitioners to learn from each other. Among these are Search's annual Healthy Communities - Healthy Youth National Conference, state asset-building initiatives, partnerships with national organizations and online bulletin boards.

Community Support: "Search Institute provides limited strategic consulting and telephone technical assistance to support and learn from community asset-building initiatives" (Ibid.).

Training: In partnership with Vision Training Associates, Search Institute has developed training and a train-the-trainer model for numerous groups within communities. This type of training gives more people the opportunity to learn about the developmental asset framework and put it to use in their community's many environments.

Ties to the Philanthropic Sector

Search Institute partnered with The Colorado Trust in 1997 to begin Assets for Colorado Youth, seeking to move the citizens and organizations of Colorado toward an asset-building model. The initiative became an independent, Colorado-based nonprofit in October 2000.

Search Institute is involved in many evaluation and training activities in communities across the country. Many of these