\u201cDavid Blumenkrantz continues to show how much we all still have to learn about rites of passage. Rite of passage \u201cspecialists\u201d struggle to connect a youth\u2019s community with their children\u2019s initiatory experience so they can affirm their transformation and acknowledge their emerging adulthood. Blumenkrantz solved this decades ago by developing a supportive community before attempting any rite of passage approaches. This should be required reading for
\nanyone interested in helping youth transition to adulthood and strengthening the village to raise their children, especially within the story of rites of passage.\u201d<\/p>\n
– Bret Stephenson, MA, author of From Boys to Men: Spiritual Rites of Passage in an Indulgent Age and owner, The Adolescent Mind\u2014Archetypal Adolescent Services, Programs and Training<\/p>\n
“David Blumenkrantz offers a compelling\u2014sometimes provocative\u2014vision of rites of passage as a powerful yet neglected responsibility, resource, and focus for community and youth development. He weaves together his practical experience working in communities with stories and insights from many divergent sources to offer an integrative vision of rites of passes that transmit values, ethics, skills, and commitments from generation to generation. In the process, he shows how intentional rites of passage transform adolescence from what too often has become a time of alienation and rolenessness into a meaningful journey into both individual thriving and community strength.”<\/p>\n
– Eugene C. Roehlkepartain, PhD, Vice President, Research and Development, Search Institute, Minneapolis, Minnesota<\/p>\n
\u201cBlumenkrantz is an activist. His community organizing through the Rite of Passage Experience\u00a9<\/sup>\u00a0(ROPE\u00ae) process, put into action in the 70s has included over 200,000 American youngsters and their parents. Had Blumenkrantz been a Brit, he would without a doubt been \u2018Sir David\u2019 or even \u2018Lord\u2019 Blumenkrantz by now. I cited his work in 2008, which helped to influence rites of passage – Geoffrey Ben-Nathan, author of I\u2019m Adult! Aren\u2019t I?: The Case for a Formal Rite of Passage<\/p>\n \u201cDavid Blumenkrantz has done it again. His previous book, Fulfilling the Promise of Children\u2019s Services, provided readers with a wide-ranging exploration of the myriad factors that either make or break prevention efforts targeting children, families, and communities. In this new book, Dr. Blumenkrantz creates another comprehensive examination of human services work, this time focusing attention on concepts and activities related to rites of passage. This is a tour de force, a book that contains encyclopedic coverage of concepts and activities related to the various ways in which societies provide their youth with pathways toward adulthood.\u201d<\/p>\n – Stephen M. Gavazzi, PhD, Dean, Ohio State University, Mansfield<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve witnessed the transformation of many children into young adulthood via rites and rituals. In Coming of Age the Rite Way, we learn adolescent becoming, moral and otherwise, finds fuller expression in the reciprocal reconstitution and growth of communal elders responsible for receiving their youth beyond their passage. A master storyteller, Dr. Blumenkrantz weaves narrative and theory into a magnificent study and celebration of initiation and rites of passage.\u201d<\/p>\n – Rabbi Craig Marantz, Congregation Kol Haverim, Chaplain Connecticut State \u201cIn beautiful and often lyrical language, this book is a gift to all facing the challenge of preparing young people for the rewards of safe passage toward a fruitful life as adults. A welcome contrast to the often arcane and distancing language of social science that only other scholars might understand and embrace. All who believe in the rich potential of cherished youth will find gems – Lee Ann Hoff, PhD, author of People in Crisis: Interdisciplinary and Diversity “\u2019Is it about raising test scores or raising children?\u2019 asks Blumenkrantz. Our coming of age stories focus on problems: school shootings, drugs and alcohol, and testing. Children hate these boring stories, and they just scare adults. You have to pay people to work with stories that bad. But, Coming of Age the Rite Way, is a story that grabs children. Through it they get to answer their favorite question, \u2018How do we grow up?\u2019 We know this story, we\u2019ve just forgotten it. Weaving scholarship, practice and his deep experience of traditional wisdom,\u00a0 Blumenkrantz spins nothing less than the origin story for tomorrow\u2019s communities.\u201d<\/p>\n – Richard Owen Geer, PhD, community practitioner, Founder Community Performance International, co-author of Story Bridge: From Alienation to Community Action.<\/p>\n \u201cComing of Age the Rite Way is a timely publication and its attractiveness is far-reaching. This book is strongly needed and is a welcomed addition to the literature. I applaud David Blumenkrantz for his keen attention to detail and creativity. Clearly a must-read for anyone who has the noble responsibility of providing guidance and direction to today\u2019s youth. Blumenkrantz has done a masterful job in presenting stories as well as factual data that will help\u00a0 synthesize our understanding of Rites of Passage and its curative value. I am pleased we now have a vivid and comprehensive body of work in one volume that will advance how to help youth move from one stage of life to the next.\u201d<\/p>\n – Keith A. Alford, PhD, School of Social Work, Syracuse University<\/p>\n \u201cTo read this book is to experience an awakening. It provides tools and understanding to take action in changing this story\u2014through restoring and innovating the rites of passage that our youth and communities so urgently need. Drawing upon research from diverse fields of study, as well as upon the author\u2019s own life work, Coming of Age the Rite Way contributes vital new thinking to – Joanna Cea & Jess Rimington, Visiting Scholars, Stanford University Global\u00a0 Projects Center<\/p>\n \u201cFor three summers in the late 1960\u2019s and early \u201870s during my early teenage years, David Blumenkrantz was my counselor at Camp Wamsutta in Charlton, Massachusetts. It is only in retrospect that I realize that through my experiences as a camper under his guidance and mentorship that I actually lived the Rite Of Passage Experience\u00a9<\/sup>\u00a0ROPE\u00ae program he would later create to assist youth through the coming-of-age process. There are many who lament that there – Kenneth F. Heideman, MS, Meteorologist, Director of Publications, American \u201cDavid Blumenkrantz continues to show how much we all still have to learn about rites of passage. Rite of passage \u201cspecialists\u201d struggle to connect a youth\u2019s community with their children\u2019s initiatory experience so they can affirm their transformation and acknowledge their emerging adulthood. Blumenkrantz solved this decades ago by developing a supportive community before attempting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-145","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rope.org\/communityritesofpassage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rope.org\/communityritesofpassage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rope.org\/communityritesofpassage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rope.org\/communityritesofpassage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rope.org\/communityritesofpassage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/rope.org\/communityritesofpassage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":189,"href":"https:\/\/rope.org\/communityritesofpassage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/145\/revisions\/189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rope.org\/communityritesofpassage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nin the UK. I wrote: One day it is hoped this fascinating and pioneering work will be readily available in bookshops all over the world.\u201d That day is now. A must read for educators and youth workers alike who want a new story and practical steps to change the future for our children, ourselves and our planet.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nLegislature<\/p>\n
\nhere to aid them in the serious task of preparing children for bravely facing their next serious step in the life cycle. This is a must read by anyone \u2013 especially parents, teachers, and counselors.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nPerspectives, 7th. Edition, and related titles on crisis and violence issues<\/p>\n
\nyouth and community development. It also inspires us to imagine new\u00a0 possibilities in emergent design for co-creating the narratives and rites that are needed to change our trajectory and reorient our planet toward balance, responsibility, and well-being. A must-read for parents, teachers and
\nall those working for social change.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nare no \u2018user\u2019s guides\u2019 or manuals for helping kids to navigate the turbulent waters of adolescence. Ah, but they have not read this book!\u201d<\/p>\n
\nMeteorological Society and Past President, Board of Directors, Council of Science
\nEditors<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"