Positive Youth Development
About Positive Youth Development
Positive Youth Development (PYD) is an approach that helps young people grow into confident, capable and successful adults. PYD builds on youth strengths, providing the skills to live healthy, happy and meaningful lives.
Through PYD, communities and organizations create supportive programs that empower youth and give opportunities to:
- Build life skills needed for success
- Form positive relationships with mentors, peers and caring adults
- Gain real-world experiences that prepare them for adulthood
- Develop leadership and resilience to handle challenges
- Stay connected and engaged in their communities
PYD's History in Colorado
For more than 15 years, PYD has helped young people in Colorado grow, lead and thrive. It started at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) as a way to listen to what youth need and build supportive programs in response. PYD empowers youth by giving them a voice, and it helps adults create safe, healthy spaces where young people can learn and lead.
In 2024, CDPHE joined with the Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS) to grow this work further. The PYD team is now part of the Tony Grampsas Youth Services Program at CDHS. The team helps adults across the state support youth in powerful ways by sharing trainings as well as tools and resources that help both youth and adults grow.
PYD Toolbox
The Positive Youth Development Toolbox is a website for people who support youth in reaching their full potential. It's a universal and evidence-based approach that helps youth-serving organizations operationalize PYD by guiding them on how to organize services, opportunities and supports.
The toolbox can be used to reflect, discuss and continuously improve youth-serving programs. It provides examples for each PYD principle, highlighting how one can observe or demonstrate these principles in their policies, practices and programs. The site can also be used to assess the foundational elements of PYD within an agency.
Landscape Assessment
As part of the PYD Landscape Assessment, we have gathered feedback from youth across Colorado. We are excited to share the results as soon as they're ready.
Take Our Survey and Help Support Youth in Colorado
We’re working on something exciting — and we need your help.
In June, we finished a project to help us understand what young people in Colorado need right now and how we can support the individuals who care for them, such as teachers, community leaders and youth program staff. Now we’re getting ready to launch new trainings, tools and a fresh website in 2026.
But first we want to hear from you. Will you take our short survey to help us guide our work?