For this Ypulse Toolbox, I'm focusing on 10 youth activism sites to give you a broad brush of what's happening in this space. I know there are many, many more amazing youth activism oriented communities, Facebook applications/groups and MySpace pages — and I hope folks will leave some of these in the comments. Obviously social media is transforming activism by allowing people to organize and connect at levels unimaginable before the internet. These communities will give you a sense of which issue are important to today's new generation of activists.

TakingITGlobal - One of my favorite youth activism sites, founded by two young Canadians, Jennifer Corriero and Michael Furdyk, this site is truly global in its membership and issues.

YouthNoise - YouthNoise is based here in San Francisco and has spoken at the past two Ypulse Mashups. I have been very impressed by their ability to partner with the top brands in the youth space like Virgin Mobile and Nike. They also get the power of both maintaining their own community and a strong presence on the major social networking sites where more youth hang out.

ThinkMTV - Even if some would argue that MTV's status within youth culture has been on the decline in part due to the long tail and user generated content online, they still have more resources, distribution and creative talent than most grassroots organizations making them a valuable megaphone and meeting place on important issues.

MySpace Impact - We all know that more young people have moved over to Facebook for their day-to-day social networking, but MySpace remains a powerhouse in the music and entertainment space. MySpace Impact provides a clearinghouse for MySpacers interested in a variety of issues.

Do Something - I've been a fan of Do Something ever since I worked at Teen Voices in Boston and shared office space with the local chapter in the YMCA. The national organization, like YouthNoise, is big on partnering with youth brands like Doritos and Aeropostle, but also taps celebrities to get its message across — remember it was founded by former "Melrose Place" star Andrew Shue.

SocialVibe - These guys are for-profit and a new player on the scene, but I like how they are combining causes, brands and social networking to raise money for worthy organizations.

the glue network - I love this site. It's the action sports answer to social activism or, in its own words, an "ON and OFF-line brand and community that exists to inspire and empower people to be the change they want to see in the world."

Invisible Children - They spoke at our San Diego Mashup a few years ago and continue to build a movement around their cause of helping children in Uganda. They've partnered with high profile musicians and appeared on one of my favorite cancelled shows, "Veronica Mars." Like the glue network, Invisible Children has Christian undertones, but both organizations strike me as non-dogmatic and inclusive.

Peta2 - Peta gets the importance of youth in their cause of furthering animal rights, so much so, they have dedicated an entire part of their organization to reaching and organizing youth. They also come up with some pretty funny viral videos from time to time.

Ashoka Youth Venture While Youth Venture is more of a funding organization and community for teams of young people it funds to create social change, it's definitely worth checking out to see what kinds of projects these young activists are dreaming up.

The Hip-Hop Association - The NetVibes hosting is kind of clunky, but this organization really is the clearing house site/community for activism happening in the urban youth/hip hop space.

The youth action sports subculture is one of the toughest to tap into and can't be done without working with influencers inside the worlds of skateboarding, snowboarding, BMX or surfing. Many brands have tried and failed or failed a few times before succeeding (think: Nike). I actually think one group that has tapped this world successfully are youth ministers. They have created Christian action sports subscultures within the subcultures themselves.

We had a mini-Mashup event about this a couple of year's ago at Premise's offices in San Diego (listen to the audio here). I asked my friends at Premise and Fuse, both Ypulse sponsors and both agencies with deep connections to this world, to suggest some sites for this Toolbox. Some of these sites are doing better than others…but all are worth noting. I know there are loads of grassroots skateboard, surf, snowboard, bmx sites/communities as well. Feel free to leave them and any others you think Ypulse readers should know about in the comments. As Gregg Witt from Premise astutely noted:

I just wonder how "populated" these communities will be.. the "action sports" types are living on MySpace and some on Facebook and contrary to how innovative everyone thinks action sports culture is, it is actually quite slow to adopt technology in their marketing,etc. So when the culture insiders are not there, these communities are relying on mainstream only to make the community thrive.. a recipe that has proved not to succeed over years.

ShredOrDie According to Gregg, this is the insider site. Interestingly, it's also a collaboration between Or Die Networks, the creators of funnyordie.com, and skateboarding icon Tony Hawk and THI/900 Films (Tony Hawk's filmmaking company).

Fuel TV The online component to the action sports cable channel, it's considered the biggest and most well known of these communities.

EXPN ESPN's site created to support the X Games — plans are in the works to launch an online action sports network, called ESPN Action Sports Network.

Transworld Business This is the big trade site for the action sports world. A must read to stay on top of the big news, trends, brands and deals being made in this space. See also 5Ones, another Transworld-like news site covering the action sports world. Seems bloggier. I like it.

Grind TV This site is now a part of Yahoo! Sports (syndication deal) and definitely has a more mainstream feel to it….

lat34 AOL launched lat34 and then later backed out. Still the site lives on….

Go211 Describes itself as an "action sports community representing athletes within Snowboarding, Skateboarding, Surfing and BMX. Along with LIVE webcasts of major events happening around the world."

BNQT A site providing "action sport videos and news for the action sport community" that was acquired this winter by USA Today, which is planning on launching some sort of action sports ad network.

Loop'd These guys spoke at the Ypulse Mashup this past July and claim to be one of the fastest growing online sports networks….we'll see!

AthleteFocus This site seems much more utilitarian and is "the place for competitors ready for sponsorship to connect with organizations looking for athlete representation."

If you have a suggestion for a Ypulse Toolbox feature, please let me know.

Let me say upfront that I am copying a popular feature on Mashable and attempting to adapt it for Ypulse. The Ypulse Toolbox will be an occasional feature that lists websites and/or ideas that will ideally help you do your job better. If you have an idea for a Ypulse Toolbox you would like to see, let us know and we'll attempt to pull it together. My goal is to keep these less generic and more youth media/marketing specific. For our first feature, I'm going to share 10 sites/resources anyone trying to reach youth should Bookmark. Obviously, I don't need to tell you to read Ypulse, you're already here!

1. MTV News Whatever your thoughts are on the relevance of MTV, the channel invests heavily in researching their demographic and knowing what teens (collective) want. Reading MTV News online is basically reading headlines handpicked by editors who are deciding what entertainment news is most relevant to their audience. It's worth checking on a daily basis. You can also sign up for MTV Sticky, a free trend email from MTV's research department.

2. Cynopsis Kids - If you're trying to reach tweens and want to stay on top of the latest news in licensing, kids/tween TV and movies, this daily newsletter is a must read.

3. TrendCentral - Yes, they are an advertiser. And yes, I often see stuff I covered on Ypulse appear days or weeks later in the editorial, but they cover trends in a much wider scope and go to lots of the big trade shows I can't — Magic, the licensing show, etc. You can go to the site or sign up for their newsletter.

4. My High School Journalism Obviously this site is dead during the summer months when school's out, but this fall you should definitely check in on a weekly basis. This is the gateway to loads of high school newspaper websites and a way to see what teens think are important issues both at their school and in the world.

5. Next Great Thing Youth. Mobile. Trends. Fleishman's blog description says it all. They do nice roundups of youth oriented mobile links along with more in-depth posts on what's happening in this space.

6. Trends & Tudes - Harris Interactive (a sponsor of Ypulse Research) has a monthly e-newsletter that highlights research they've done for their clients. They don't just offer numbers but always offer insights you can pull from the research, whether it's on bullying at school or college students today.

7. The Pew Internet & American Life Project - Pew produces free reports on how teens are using the internet. Every one is a free goldmine of information.

8. CNET/Digital Kids Coverage This used to be a blog but now is a way to search CNET News for all of their youth and technology oriented stories and posts.

9. danah boyd's research danah is one of the few academics who consciously strives to make as much of her research free and available online. Not only that, it's required reading if you're focused on youth and social media.

10. Youth Media Exchange If you are interested in social change and want to know what young people all over the world are concerned about, YME is a great resource and a truly international youth activism site. Worth checking to get a global pulse of what youth activists are thinking (and doing) around the world. Also a great resource for corporations looking to partner or create global pro-social campaigns.