This month we hear from our own Jane Powers, project director of ACT for Youth. Jane and Chris get into the history and work of ACT, changing communities to be better environments for young people, building capacity in practitioners, the strength of partnerships with diverse perspectives and Jane's life examining adolescent development.

Jane Powers, Ph.D. is a researcher based at Cornell University's Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research. She is project director for Assets Coming Together (ACT) for Youth Center for Community Action which connects youth development research to practice, provides training and technical support, evaluation assistance and resources to communities and youth serving programs across New York State. Her research expertise includes positive youth development, child abuse and neglect, youth homelessness, violence prevention and program evaluation. She is interested in the application of knowledge to practice, and in translating research to improve environments for children, youth and families.