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. To accomplish this mission, the institute generates, synthesizes, and communicates new knowledge, convenes organizational and community leaders, and works with state and national organizations to support the healthy development of children and adolescents.

At the heart of the institute’s work is the framework of 40 developmental assets, which are positive experiences, relationships, opportunities, and personal qualities that young people need to grow up healthy, caring, and responsible. Created in 1990, the framework is grounded in research on child and adolescent development, risk prevention, and resiliency. Surveys of more than 1 million 6th - 12th-grade youth in communities across the United States consistently show that young people who experience more of these assets are more likely to make healthy choices and avoid a wide range of high-risk behaviors.

Research— Search Institute conducts applied scientific research on positive child and adolescent development to strengthen and deepen the scientific underpinnings of the developmental assets framework. In addition, the institute studies the steps communities are taking to attend to young people’s developmental needs. The survey services unit offers school districts and communities comprehensive profiles of their youth based on the framework of developmental assets.

Communication—Search Institute provides a wide range of publications and practical tools to equip community and organization leaders, parents, and young people to build developmental assets. The institute also provides information through its Web site (www.search-institute.org) and publishes a quarterly magazine, Assets: The Magazine of Ideas for Healthy Communities & Healthy Youth.

Networking—Search Institute provides many opportunities for leaders and practitioners engaged in asset building to learn from each other. These include the annual Healthy Communities • Healthy Youth National Conference, on-line bulletin boards, a network of state initiatives, and the formation of alliances with national organizations.

Community supports—Search Institute provides limited strategic consulting and telephone technical assistance to support and learn from community asset-building initiatives. A major current initiative focuses on strengthening the capacity of school communities to build developmental assets.

Training— Search Institute training on asset building and healthy communities is available through Vision Training Associates. For more information call 800-888-7828.

Search Institute is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization. It is supported by tax-deductible contributions from individuals and organizations, grants and contracts from foundations, corporations, and government agencies, and proceeds from the sales of products and services. The institute’s annual budget is approximately $10 million.

Major supporters include Thrivent Financial for Lutherans; the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation; the W.T. Grant Foundation; and the Thrive Foundation for youth. For a complete listing of funders, see the Search Institute annual report at www.search-institute.org or call the development office at 612-692-5545.

Search Institute was founded in 1958 by Dr. Merton P. Strommen. The institute originally focused on research regarding youth in religious settings; the focus has evolved to address the healthy development of all children and youth in multiple settings in community and society. Dr. Strommen was succeeded in 1985 by current president Dr. Peter L. Benson.

In 1996, the institute launched the Healthy Communities • Healthy Youth initiative, with major corporate support from Lutheran Brotherhood. This initiative seeks to motivate and equip individuals, families, organizations, and communities to work together to build developmental assets for and with children and adolescents. To date, 500 communities across the United States and Canada have formed asset-building initiatives. In addition, 25 states and two Canadian provinces have formed statewide networks.