1999
Search Institute staff quadruples, from 20 to 80 employees, including integrated new areas of work in publishing, networking with communities, conferencing, training,and consulting.
More than 1,700 participants attend the third annual Healthy Communities • Healthy Youth Conference in Denver, Colorado.
Search Institute and Lutheran Brotherhood launch a national study of social norms regarding how adults relate with children and youth.
Groundwork is laid for a long-term partnership with the Indiana Youth Institute and Lilly Endowment.
Fifteen new resources that support asset building in communities are published.
Asset-building training is delivered to more than 50,000 people through community and regional training events.
Marc Mannes, Ph.D., joins Search Institute as director of research and evaluation.
2000
A collaborative project with Lutheran Brotherhood (in conjunction with a poll conducted by the Gallup Organization), Grading Grown-Ups: American Adults Report on Their Real Relationships with Kids, is released.
The Search Institute Profiles of Student Life: Attitudes and Behaviors survey is administered to over 360,000 young people in 540 communities.
Search Institute president Peter L. Benson is named the William T. Grant Foundation’s visiting scholar.
Vision Training Associates is formed to manage the delivery of Search Institute Training and Speaking services—245 training events are delivered to community groups, reaching over 36,000 people.
Peter Benson helps design and participates in the landmark White House Conference on Teenagers.
A total of 2,400 youth and adult asset builders gather in Minneapolis for the fourth annual Healthy Communities • Healthy Youth Conference. Youth participation increases by 57% from the year before.
2001
The events of September 11 have a profound impact on the nation, but the asset-building initiative remains strong in the face of tragedy. Despite travel concerns, attendance to the annual HC • HY conference more than doubles—and includes more young people than ever before.
The fifth annual HC • HY Conference is held in Indianapolis in early November. It draws 2,091 people, including 555 youth. Participants come from 47 states and 5 Canadian provinces, as well as Mexico. There are more than 100 learning sessions, 75 sharing sessions, performance and visual arts activities, chat rooms, exhibits, and intergenerational events.
Nearly 600 communities around the world are engaged in asset-building initiatives.
Search Institute releases eight major publications, including Ideas That Cook, Step by Step, An Asset Approach to Community Change, and What’s Working: Tools for Evaluating Your Mentoring Program.
Fourteen articles and book chapters are published by such authors as Dr. Peter Benson, Peter Scales, and Marc Mannes.
Judy Galbraith finishes a four-year term as chair of Search Institute’s board of directors.
Search Institute, with the YMCA of the USA and YMCA of Canada, begins designing a multiyear initiative called Abundant Assets.
With the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, Search Institute triggers innovations in after-school programs.
2002
Search Institute develops a new mission statement: “To provide leadership, knowledge, and resources to promote healthy children, youth, and communities.”
David Nasby assumes the position as chair of the board of directors.
“Asset Building the YMCA Way” is released as an in-depth training for YMCA leaders.
Search Institute research scientists join with researchers from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education for the National Asset-Building Case Study Project.
Search Institute releases four major publications, as well as eight articles and book chapters.
2003
Eighteen new resources are published, including best-selling Assets in Action and Tag, You’re It!
The Developmental Assets Profile (DAP) is released as a new measure of Developmental Assets for young people ages 11 to 18.
With support from the John Templeton Foundation, the interfaith initiative Spiritual Development in Childhood and Adolescence is launched.
The first longitudinal study of Developmental Assets is conducted in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, resulting in the report titled “Signs of Progress in Putting Children First.”
The Otto Bremer Foundation awards Search Institute a three-year grant to work with youth and adults in three Minnesota communities around the issue of human rights.
2004
Search Institute celebrates the 10-year anniversary of the national Healthy Communities • Healthy Youth movement.
The 34-chapter volume, The Handbook of Spiritual Development in Childhood and Adolescence, is completed.
In partnership with the Horizon Foundation, Search Institute designs a long-term initiative, Connections, to enhance Developmental Assets throughout Howard County, Maryland.
Partners with Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Twin Cities to extend asset-based one-to-one mentoring services to more than 100 children of prisoners from Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota.
2006
Search Institute receives a major grant from John Templeton Foundation to launch the Center for Spiritual Development in Childhood and Adolescence, which seeks to advance the theory and practice in this neglected domain of human development. This initiative is Search Institute’s first intentionally international effort, with foundational research on spiritual development being conducted in five continents.
Search Institute launches a major market analysis and strategic planning process focused on strengthening and expanding market reach and enterprise services.
2007
Search Institute partners with I.A. O’Shaughnessy Foundation in an initiative to equip early elementary teachers with the knowledge and skills to infuse Developmental Assets into instructional and classroom management practices.
Engages over 8,000 adults with MVParents.com, a Web site that supports parents in building assets with tips, affirmations, and a free weekly newsletter.
Pilots a process to build the capacity of the Tiger Woods Learning Center to become an asset-rich setting, engage staff as a learning community, and deliver a high-quality asset-aligned curriculum.
More than 20 new products are developed, including three newly developed trainings offered through Vision Training Associates.
Over 250 training events occur, reaching over 25,000 participants in more than five countries.
