For its entire 50-year history, Search Institute has been a trailblazer and innovator in promoting positive change on behalf of young people.
1958–1967
1968–1984
1985–1998
1999–2007
Our Mission:
Search Institute is an independent, nonprofit, nonsectarian organization whose mission is to provide leadership, knowledge, and resources to promote healthy children, youth, and communities.
As we celebrate 50 years of research on youth, we are proud of our accomplishments yet realize the many opportunities still before us—opportunities to spread the asset-building paradigm, and opportunities to deepen our capacity to evaluate the impact of assets on children and adolescents. We are on the crest of breaking new ground, working with culture-changing organizations and communities to learn together about the intersection of assets, community and social change, and the full spectrum of human development.
I am proud to be associated with an organization that has such a positive impact on our nation’s youth, and I am grateful to be associated with Search Institute’s dedicated board members, its outstanding staff, and the growing number of friends, colleagues, and change agents who share with us the urgency and possibility of improving how this nation nurtures its children and adolescents.
Peter L. Benson, Ph.D.
President, Search Institute
1958–1967
1958
Merton Strommen submits a proposal for a study to identify the concerns and needs of Lutheran youth as the basis of a new youth program for six merging church bodies. The six church bodies approve the study, and Strommen develops a youth survey of 520 items.
1959
The survey is administered to a random sample of youth and adults (2,000 of each) from 191 participating congregations.
Data from the study are analyzed at the University of Minnesota with assistance from the Lutheran Brotherhood, and the results are shared in eight reports authored by Merton Strommen.
Youth directors of the six church bodies form a policy group to govern the national release of the data and further the use of the Lutheran Youth Survey in congregations.
1960
Lutheran Youth Research (LYR) is officially established with a budget of $9,810, subsidized by the Lutheran youth departments. The first office is located in the Lutheran Social Service building at 2414 Park Avenue South in Minneapolis.
A sample is drawn for a cross-validation study involving the youth of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.
Lutheran Brotherhood provides unprecedented use of computer equipment, paper, and cards. This unique privilege is enjoyed for many years to come.
1961
LYR’s first book is published: What Youth Are Thinking by Gordon Smedsrud.
Merton Strommen resigns as youth director of Lutheran Free Church to become the full-time research director of LYR.
1962
The cross-validation study of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod youth is completed. Immediate, short-range, and ten-year goals are established for LYR.
LYR’s survey service is made available to congregations.
1963
LYR begins to explore the possibility of offering the youth survey to other denominations.
Thomas Nelson and Sons Publishers proposes a series of books for Christian youth to be called the Youth Forum Series, which results in a five-year contract.
Merton Strommen’s first book, Profiles of Church Youth, is published.
Two-fold mission is clarified: forming ideas through research and publications, and providing services such as survey instruments and training.
LYR presents the findings of the first study of Lutheran youth and the cross-validation survey of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod youth.
1964
LYR moves from its Lutheran Social Service location to the Minnesota Church Center at 122 West Franklin Avenue.
LYR’s mission broadens to include other denominational groups. The emergence of this ecumenical approach makes LYR aware of the need to move away from the Lutheran youth departments’ subsidy and secure foundation grants.
The Religious Education Association (REA) in New York proposes that Merton Strommen share time with them as research director for a period of about three years, which he accepts.
Youth Counseling Seminars are introduced to train pastors in the counseling use of individual profiles derived from the Lutheran Youth Survey.
1965
The first three books in the Youth Forum Series are published by Thomas Nelson and Sons..
Merton Strommen completes a paper establishing the relationship between Christian theology and psychological measurement. The paper serves as a means of clarifying how the work of LYR could relate to the church and its mission, and becomes an important reference in the years to follow.
Merton Strommen continues to divide time between LYR and REA, which provides him the opportunity to vastly broaden contacts and expand LYR’s mission far beyond the Lutheran church.
LYR shifts from a one-researcher, one-secretary operation to one with several staff members.
1966
LYR incorporates as a nonprofit organization.
The Wheat Ridge Foundation awards funds for a development director to help LYR become independent of the youth departments’ subsidy.
Lilly Endowment provides $50,000 for the Youth Ministry project. Elmer Witt becomes co-director of the project with Merton Strommen.
Merton Strommen begins examining the historical relationship between the psychological and sociological study of religion for the publication Review of Research in Religious Development.
1967
LYR changes its name to Church Youth Research (CYR) to reflect the interdenominational aspect of its work.
CYR develops a new computer program that allows reports for the congregational survey service to be computer-generated instead of handwritten, saving an enormous amount of professional time and money.
1968–1984
1968
Financial pressures to meet payroll and expenses are extreme. Hopes for funding rest on a proposal submitted to the National Institute of Mental Health for the Clergy-Youth Counseling Project. The proposal is approved, with funding to begin April 1, 1969.
CYR receives an invitation from Notre Dame to develop a research center in religious education.
1969
The funds from the National Institute of Mental Health are delayed; CYR borrows money from the bank to stay afloat.
CYR moves beyond the Lutheran church for board members and welcomes two businessmen, George Dayton and Herbert Bissell. To reflect the change, CYR becomes Youth Research Center (YRC).
The Youth Forum Series has now sold 200,000 copies.
The year ends on a high note with four grants bringing in $500,000. Three additional grants are awarded, and five new staff members are hired.
1970
A Study of Generations, funded by Lutheran Brotherhood, begins with seminarians traveling to 320 congregations to collect data.
Staff increases to 18.
Six new titles are added to the Youth Forum Series.
1971
Research on Religious Development: A Comprehensive Handbook is published; it is monumental because it brings together for the first time the results of 75 years of research in religion.
1972
A Study of Generations is published; called an “assured classic” by Time magazine.
1973
Three paperbacks are published, based on information from A Study of Generations.
Lutheran Brotherhood increases the length of its computer grants from two years to five years.
1974
Five Cries of Youth is published; it is significant because it presents data that refutes the position of national youth leaders who have bought in to Margaret Mead’s thesis of a “generation gap.”
Two major projects are under way: Readiness for Ministry for the Association of Theological Schools, funded by Lilly Endowment; and the Lutheran Seminarian project, a parallel study on ministry. A third study, of the 18 colleges of the Lutheran Church in America (LCA), is launched.
1975
Reaffirmation of mission: knowledge base gained through research; linking research to practice.
Youth Survey is modified to a shorter version called Becoming the Gift.
1976
Readiness for Ministry project is successfully completed. Lilly Endowment awards additional funds to introduce the program to Association of Theological Schools seminaries over a six-year period.
National Institute of Mental Health awards grant for three-year study, Effecting Utilization: Experimental Use of Consultants.
1977
The continued broadening of YRC’s mission leads to a name change: Search Institute.
Approval is granted for a study of the beliefs and values of members of Congress, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Two studies are completed: the LCA college study and the Lutheran Seminarian Project.
1978
Search Institute celebrates its 20th anniversary.
Merton Strommen announces his intent to retire as president in mid-1984; sets goals to establish Search Institute as an institution with a secure future and distinctive mission.
Peter Benson joins the staff as a research scientist; leads study of beliefs and values of members of Congress.
1979
Ten Faces of Ministry, based on a survey of 5,000 Lutherans, is published.
1980
Ministry in America, based on a survey of 47 denominations, is released; reviewed in Time magazine.
Final report on the study of 18 LCA colleges is published.
1981
Lilly Endowment awards grant of $273,000 for the Study of Early Adolescents and Their Parents.
Peter Benson carries out the study Religion on Capitol Hill, which receives excellent coverage in Psychology Today.
1982
Religion on Capitol Hill: Myths and Realities is published.
1983
Search Institute celebrates its 25th anniversary.
Peter Benson becomes director of research.
Findings from the Study of Early Adolescents and Their Parents are presented at the Early Adolescence Invitational Conference in Nashville.
Merton Strommen is awarded Fellow status in the American Psychological Association, following his selection to receive the William James Award for career achievements in the psychology of religion.
Between 1983 and 1990, Search Institute conducts several national studies for the National Catholic Educational Association; this leads to publication of several reports that influence educational policy, teacher training, and staff development in Catholic schools.
Planned change process called Vision-to-Action is developed by Shelby Andress and Merton Strommen.
1984
Partnership with WQED, a public television station in Pittsburgh, results in the public television program Chemical People, which rallies people across the country in a fight against drug abuse.
Search Institute launches a five-year human sexuality project, titled Values and Choices, under the direction of John Forliti. The Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Programs is the project funder; Vesper Society awards funds to develop video and curriculum materials.
Merton Strommen attends a reception at the White House with First Lady Nancy Reagan.
Merton Strommen retires as president.
1985–1998
1985
Peter Benson assumes presidency of Search Institute.
Search Institute establishes a formal relationship with Vesper Society in San Leandro, California. Search Institute Board of Directors adopts a new structure of dual board representation with Vesper Society.
Five Cries of Parents, written by Merton and Irene Strommen, is published.
Source newsletter is launched to address major issues facing children, adolescents, and families.
1986
Values & Choices, a video-assisted sexuality curriculum for 7th- and 8th-grade students in public schools, is produced and distributed nationally; receives the Certificate of Merit at the 1986 International Film Festival in Chicago.
1987
The Quicksilver Years: The Hopes and Fears of Young Adolescents is published; it examines the beliefs, attitudes, values, and behaviors of 5th- to 9th-grade youth.
1988
A landmark study begins—Effective Christian Education: A National Study of Protestant Congregations, funded by Lilly Endowment.
1989
A grant from the National Institute of Mental Health launches the largest U.S. study on adoptive families.
Valuegenesis, a major study of adolescence and youth of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, is launched.
Search Institute enters a long-term partnership with Lutheran Brotherhood to help design and implement RespecTeen, a nationwide effort to promote positive youth development.
Search Institute begins studying youth using its survey titled Search Institute Profiles of Student Life: Attitudes and Behaviors through Lutheran Brotherhood’s RespecTeen program. In the first year, 125 reports are generated.
1990
The Troubled Journey: A Portrait of 6th – 12th Grade Youth is published, introducing the concept of Developmental Assets—30 building blocks of healthy development— which are linked to both the prevention of multiple high-risk behaviors and the promotion of school success, caring, and a variety of other thriving indicators.
Search Institute begins to focus planning and long-term visioning around the concepts of positive youth development and the creation of healthy communities for children and adolescents.
Merton Strommen is awarded the Philip R. A. May award by the Society for Knowledge Utilization and Planned Change.
1991
Peter Benson receives the William James award for career contributions to the psychology of religion from the American Psychological Association.
Gene Roehlkepartain joins the staff as publications director.
Values & Choices sexuality education curriculum is updated.
1992
Search Institute moves to Thresher Square at 700 South Third Street.
Search Institute co-authors a report with the Minnesota Department of Education titled Promising Prevention Strategies: A Look at What Works.
New mission statement is adopted; focuses Search Institute on adolescent development.
1993
Five-year project to provide resources and training to promote congregational effectiveness is launched in partnership with The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod and Lutheran Brotherhood.
Search Institute launches Children First, a pilot healthy community initiative in St. Louis Park, Minnesota.
Healthy Communities • Healthy Youth research report is published.
Beyond Leaf Raking: Learning to Serve/Serving to Learn is published.
The Teaching Church, Rethinking Christian Education, and Youth in Protestant Churches are published, based on Effective Christian Education: A National Study of Protestant Congregations.
1994
Growing Up Adopted: A Portrait of Adolescents & Their Families is published; receives national media coverage, including the New York Times and the Washington Post.
What Kids Need to Succeed: Proven, Practical Ways to Raise Good Kids, by Peter Benson, Judy Galbraith, and Pamela Espeland, is published by Free Spirit Publishing.
1995
The Healthy Communities • Healthy Youth (HC • HY) initiative is born, based on the framework of 30 Developmental Assets; Search Institute assists 35 communities in five states in organizing initiatives to build assets for youth.
Search Institute and Lutheran Brotherhood establish a long-term partnership to expand Search Institute’s Healthy Communities • Healthy Youth initiative nationwide.
Staff expands to 35.
Search Institute acquires resources, training materials, and a 10,000-volume library from the former Center for Early Adolescence (CEA) at the University of North Carolina. Peter Scales, the center’s director of national initiatives, joins Search Institute as senior fellow.
Uniting Congregations for Youth Development (UCYD) is launched, with a four-year grant from the DeWitt Wallace—Reader’s Digest Fund, to develop resources and training on positive youth development for religious youth workers.
Congregations at Crossroads: A National Study of Adults and Youth in The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod is published.
National Youth Leadership Council subcontracts with Search Institute for the Middle School Service-Learning Impact Study.
1996
Healthy Communities • Healthy Youth is launched nationally; 170 communities mobilize under the HC • HY umbrella.
HC • HY field offices are created in New Mexico and New England.
Search Institute is awarded $10 million from The Colorado Trust to create Assets for Colorado Youth (ACY), a statewide asset-building movement in Colorado.
Ongoing research into what youth need to succeed prompts revision of several asset categories and expansion of the asset framework from 30 to 40 assets. The Search Institute Profiles of Student Life: Attitudes and Behaviors survey is redesigned and in use for the 1996 – 1997 school year.
Two reports describing the urgency and challenge of building assets are published: Developmental Assets among Minneapolis Youth and Developmental Assets among Albuquerque Youth.
Starting Out Right: Development Assets for Children is published; establishes an asset framework for infants, toddlers and preschoolers, and elementary-age children.
Search Institute launches Assets: The Magazine of Ideas for Healthy Communities & Healthy Youth, a national, full-color, quarterly magazine offering ideas, resources, and strategies for creating asset-rich communities.
The Search Institute website is created.
YMCA of the USA contracts with Search Institute to prepare Making the Case: The Impact of Youth Development Programs, a report that examines the literature on youth development programs and the impact of specific program types; report is distributed to YMCA branches throughout the country.
Search Institute completes the external evaluation of the Generator Schools project, a four-year study of schools across the country dedicated to integrating service-learning throughout their curriculum.
Search Institute completes the final evaluation report of a four-year project for the National 4-H Council titled Strengthening Our Capacity to Care (SOCC): Staff Training for Youth at Risk.
1997
Search Institute releases new data on the 40 assets, gathered from surveys of nearly 100,000 youth in 213 communities.
Search Institute opens the Assets for Colorado Youth office in Denver with a staff of six.
All Kids Are Our Kids: What Communities Must Do to Raise Caring and Responsible Children and Adolescents, by Peter Benson, is published by Jossey-Bass.
Eight new resources are published and several others are revised to reflect the expanded framework of 40 Developmental Assets. Among the new resources is the Healthy Communities • Healthy Youth Tool Kit, a collection of stories, examples, and tips from communities with asset-building initiatives.
Work in Colorado, New Mexico, and other states prompts the translation of the 40 assets into Spanish. A full-color poster, 101 Asset-Building Actions, highlights key words and phrases in Spanish, and translation of other resources is planned.
Search Institute hosts its first annual Healthy Communities • Healthy Youth Conference in Bloomington, Minnesota, with over 650 people from 44 states and Canada in attendance.
The foundational book for the Uniting Congregations for Youth Development (UCYD) initiative, Building Assets in Congregations: A Practical Guide for Helping Youth Grow Up Healthy, is published.
National leaders join together for The Presidents’ Summit for America’s Future, a three-day kickoff event for the America’s Promise initiative, on April 27, 1997. Search Institute helps define the goals of the summit, develops the information booklet distributed to all summit participants, and participates in the kickoff event.
1998
More than 300 communities are mobilized under the Healthy Communities • Healthy Youth umbrella.
Publication of resources in Spanish continues.
Shema: Listening to Jewish Youth, a study of Jewish young people’s involvement in secular and Jewish-sponsored activities, is published.
Search Institute and America’s Promise join forces to provide a new survey, The Survey of Student Resources and Assets, to measure the five fundamental resources of America’s Promise and the 40 Developmental Assets. The Search Institute Profiles of Student Life: Attitudes and Behaviors survey, which measures the 40 assets, continues to be administered by schools and communities across the country.
Assets for Colorado Youth implements a public education campaign in Colorado and hosts a statewide conference.
What Teens Need to Succeed: Proven, Practical Ways to Shape Your Own Future, by Peter Benson, Judy Galbraith, and Pamela Espeland, is published by Free Spirit Publishing.
Developmental Assets: A Synthesis of the Scientific Research on Adolescent Development is published, offering a comprehensive review of more than 800 scientific articles and reports related to Developmental Assets.
University of Minnesota subcontracts with Search Institute for the Sibling Interaction and Behavior Study, an in-depth assessment of adoptive and nonadoptive families funded by the National Institute of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse.
Search Institute expands to 70 staff members.
Second annual Healthy Communities • Healthy Youth Conference is held in St. Paul, Minnesota.
1999-2007
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 has been administered to over 360,000 young people in 540 communities.
Search Institute president Peter 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 is 57% higher than the year before.
2001
The fifth annual HC • HY Conference is held in Indianapolis in early November. Despite the profound impact of September 11 on the nation, the asset-building initiative remains strong and the conference draws 2,091 people, including 555 youth, more than ever before. 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 Dr. Peter Benson, Peter Scales, Marc Mannes, and others.
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.”
“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, laying the groundwork for the future Center for Spiritual Development.
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.
Search Institute 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.
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.
Over 8,000 adults visit MVParents.com, a website 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.
