A Toolkit for Using Protective Community Resources to Promote Child, Youth, and Family Well-being

All children, youth, and families deserve to live in thriving communities with access to resources that promote and protect their well-being. Yet in the United States, discriminatory policies and practices in housing, health care, and other determinants of well-being continue to limit access to vital protective resources for many children, youth, and families. To address these disparities, we must first identify which community resources children, youth, and families themselves view as protective—both those they currently have access to and those they lack but desire. Recognizing and understanding these resources will be crucial to ensuring that all children, youth, and families can flourish in the communities they call home.

In 2023, Child Trends launched a research initiative focused on protective community resources (PCRs) for Black children and families. Our goals are twofold: 1) to identify community-based resources that promote the well-being of children and families, and 2) to examine how these resources relate to mental health, community safety, maternal and child health, and educational outcomes across all ages and developmental stages.

Our work to date includes a systematic review of 172 studies on PCRs for children and youth from birth to age 24, published from 2012 to 2022, along with an interactive bibliographic tool for readers to explore these studies. Additionally, we conducted community mapping studies with Black parents and caregivers of children from birth to age 17 and Black emerging adults ages 18 to 25 to better understand how they define and perceive the resources that promote their well-being.

The resulting toolkit, building on two years of research, can serve as a resource for researchers, practitioners, and leaders committed to building thriving communities for all children, youth, and families. It emphasizes the importance of listening to communities to better understand their assets and needs, reflecting on opportunities to leverage community strengths and address gaps, and taking actionable steps to create meaningful change.

Key findings from a literature review on the effects of PCRs for children and youth

In 2023, our team conducted a systematic literature review on PCRs for children and youth from birth to age 24, covering the 10-year period from 2012 to 2022. We only included studies that identified community-related factors (e.g., neighborhoods, youth organizations, health clinics, schools) as the focus of their research. A total of 172 articles met the criteria for full review.

Within these articles, researchers examined the influence of PCRs on various outcomes for children and youth, which we categorized into three broad areas following our review:

• Mental and physical health
• Safety and violence prevention
• Learning opportunities

Across these outcomes, researchers reported a mix of statistically significant and not statistically significant results. A closer look at studies with mixed results revealed that PCRs (1) influenced some—but not all—of the outcomes examined in the studies, (2) protected specific populations of children and youth from risks such as violence and discrimination, and (3) moderated or mediated the harmful effects of these risks. These findings are consistent with previous reviews, which have reported both significant and mixed results regarding the impact of community-level factors on child and youth outcomes.

Our review also identified several limitations in the existing literature that can inform future studies on PCRs and their effects on children and youth. These limitations include:

• A heavy reliance on quantitative survey designs
• A lack of studies that center the voices of children, youth, and families
• A lack of research on how racially and ethnically diverse groups of children, youth, and families access and experience PCRs

Through our work on PCRs, we aim to address these limitations and contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of how community resources can support the development and well-being of children, youth, and families.

An interactive tool to examine research on PCRs

Building on our systematic review of the literature, we developed an interactive bibliographic tool that allows users to browse 172 studies on PCRs for children and youth published from 2012 to 2022 (mentioned in the previous section). We hope that researchers, practitioners, and policymakers will search this interactive database to gain a better understanding of the role of PCRs in increasing the well-being of children and youth.

Articles included in the bibliographic tool are first categorized by background, demographic characteristics, and methodology and findings. Within these three categories there are 10 primary filters (see Figure 1), which are further grouped into secondary filters. Users may explore research on PCRs using the tool’s 10 filters. For example, if a user wishes to search for articles that employed mixed methods research, they would first select “Research Designs” and then choose “Mixed Methods” as a secondary filter. Or, to search for articles that specifically analyze school connectedness as a PCR, they would select “Types of Protective Community Resources” and then “School Connectedness” as a secondary filter.

Figure 1. Filters for the PCR bibliographic tool