Resource Library
For Members
Healthy Men, Healthy Communities--July 2010
Introduction from GCYF
Programs that support healthy youth development and provide positive adult interaction are key to countering the negative experiences many youth in our country experience on a daily basis. In this issue of the Healthy Men, Healthy Communities newsletter we take a look at how foundations and political leaders are supporting programs that foster healthy youth development.
Representative Robert Scott leads the discussion by articulating the importance of policies that support healthy youth development, prevention, intervention and rehabilitation.
Next, an article by Stephanie Snyder, Program Intern at GCYF, reports on what one of the leading health foundations in the country, The California Endowment, has discovered in the connection between community violence and negative health outcomes for young men and boys of color.
Finally, Ellen London, President & CEO of the DC Children and Youth Investment Trust offers strategies for funders to ensure that youth violence prevention programs incorporate a youth development approach.
We hope you like the new design of our Healthy Men, Healthy Communities newsletter. This new format helps readers gain important insight into current topics affecting minority men and boys while gaining access to resources available in the field.
Best Regards,
Dr. Stephanie McGencey, Ph.D., MPH
Executive Director
Grantmakers for Children, Youth & Families
Youth PROMISE Act
By Representative Robert Scott, Virginia's 3rd District
During my more than 30 years of public service, I have learned that when it comes to crime policy, we have a choice – we can reduce crime, or we can “play politics”. For far too long, Congress has chosen to “play politics” by enacting so-called “tough on crime” slogans such as “three strikes and you’re out”, “mandatory minimum sentencing”, “life without parole”, “abolish parole” or “you do the adult crime, you do the adult time."
Because Congress has enacted so many of these “tough on crime,” slogan-based policies, the United States now has the highest incarceration rate of any nation in the world, with over 700 persons incarcerated for every 100,000 in the population. The impact of this focus on tough law enforcement approaches falls disproportionately on minorities, particularly Blacks and Hispanics. While the average incarceration rate in the United States is 7 times the international average, for Blacks the average rate is over 2200 per 100,000, and the rate in some jurisdictions exceeds 4,000 per 100,000 Blacks, a rate 40 times the international average. These statistics are even more troubling in light of the Pew Center on the States’ study “1 in 31,” which found that incarceration rates higher than the range of 350-500 per 100,000 are counterproductive when it comes to reducing crime. In addition to being racially prejudiced and counterproductive, increased incarceration is not cheap. Since 1982, the cost of incarceration in this country has risen from $9 billion annually to over $65 billion a year.
The impact of an overly punitive criminal justice approach falls disproportionately on youth of color. The Sentencing Project estimates that without an appropriate intervention, one of every three black boys who is born today will end up incarcerated in their lifetime. These children are on a trajectory the Children’s Defense Fund has described as a “cradle-to-prison pipeline,” characterized among other things by poverty, a struggling education system, and an unresponsive, punitive juvenile justice system. Emphasizing the inefficiency of increased sanctions in stemming youth crime and delinquency, No More Children Left Behind Bars, a report by Harvard Law School's Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice, cites an exhaustive review of empirical studies and concludes: “Incarceration is a spectacularly unsuccessful treatment.” The U.S. Department of Justice National Criminal Justice Reference Service has also found incarceration does little to disrupt the violent activities of gang-affiliated inmates. Research reveals that prisons and detention centers can in fact strengthen gang affiliations and become a breeding ground for potential gang activity. Insofar as youth in the community form gangs for protection and family-like relationships, incarcerated youth have an even greater need for protection.
Despite overwhelming evidence that over-incarceration is not the answer, the US spends far more resources arresting and prosecuting young people who aren't violent than trying to eliminate the actual causes of gang involvement and youth crime. The good news is that by changing our approach, and investing wisely in our most important resource in this country – our children and youth – we can change the paradigm.
We now have overwhelming evidence to show that it is entirely feasible to move children away from a cradle to prison pipeline to a cradle-to-college, or cradle-to-jobs, pipeline. Research reveals that a continuum of evidenced-based prevention and intervention programs for youth identified as being involved, or at risk of involvement, in delinquent behavior will greatly reduce crime and save much more than they cost when compared to the avoided law enforcement and social welfare expenditures. Evidence-based and promising programs for teen pregnancy prevention, pre-natal care, new parent training, nurse home visits, Head Start, quality education, after-school programs, summer recreation and comprehensive job training programs have been proven to cost-effectively reduce crime. Research reveals that these programs are most effective when provided in the context of a coordinated, collaborative local strategy involving education, community-based services, health and mental health providers, law enforcement, and other local public and private entities working with children identified as at risk of involvement in the juvenile and criminal justice systems.
Based on this research, I introduced the Youth Prison Reduction through Opportunities, Mentoring, Intervention, Support, and Education (Youth PROMISE Act), H.R. 1064, which implements the best policy recommendations from crime policy makers, researchers, practitioners, analysts, and law enforcement officials from across the country and the political spectrum concerning evidence- and research-based strategies to prevent and reduce gang violence and crime.
Under the Youth PROMISE Act, officials, practitioners, volunteers, and others working with at-risk youth in communities facing the greatest youth gang and crime challenges come together to develop and implement a comprehensive plan to prevent and effectively intervene to stop youth violence. These plans consist of evidence-based and promising programs proven to be effective. The Youth PROMISE Act also provides for thorough evaluation and cost-analysis. In addition to reducing crime and providing better results in the lives of our youth, the programs funded under the Youth PROMISE Act will yield significant cost savings through reduced criminal justice costs, and related expenditures. A significant portion of the savings sustained through investment in prevention and intervention, and the resulting reductions in incarceration and related criminal justice costs, will be re-invested in the programs funding by the Youth PROMISE Act.
The Youth PROMISE Act currently has 235 co-sponsors in the House, 15 co-sponsors in the Senate, and is supported by a coalition of over 250 local, state and national organizations. With your help, this bill can finally become law this Congress.
For more information on the Youth PROMISE Act, please visit Robert Scott's website: http://www.bobbyscott.house.gov/ypa
Victims of Violence: the Health Consequences of Communities for Boys and Young Men of Color
By Stephanie Snyder, Program Intern, Grantmakers for Children, Youth & Families
Time and again, studies have shown that children living in impoverished urban areas are often exposed to high levels of community violence. A growing body of evidence suggests that this exposure dramatically increases their risk for negative health conditions. Studies have shown that these health disparities are especially pronounced for African-American and Latino boys and young men. However, research reveals that hospital-based violence prevention programs can help break the cycle of violence and reduce violent crime. These programs can play a vital role in addressing the physical and mental health issues experienced by boys and young men of color.
In June 2010, The California Endowment, one of the largest health foundations in the country, released a compelling report entitled “Healthy Communities Matter: The Importance of Place to the Health of Boys of Color.” The report highlights research on Black and Hispanic boys in California exposed to chronic poverty and violence, and estimates that they are twice as likely to be unhealthy in comparison with white boys. Robert Phillips, Director of Health and Human Services for The California Endowment, underscores the need for changes to address the health issues of these young men. Phillips stated, “This research shows that the health of African-American and Latino boys stems from their neighborhoods, their schools, their environments being unhealthy. According to the research, place and policy clearly matter to the health of these boys and young men.” Statistics in the report show that, as a result of increased amounts of violence in their communities, Black young men are 2.5 times more likely to experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) than white young men. Hispanic boys and young men are four times more likely to suffer from PTSD.
The report discussed how boys of color who face traumatic incidents have an increased risk of experiencing not only PTSD, but multiple other negative health outcomes as well. Studies of mental health show that witnessing community violence puts youth at risk for internalizing and externalizing problems, leading to depressive symptoms, lower self-esteem, and learning difficulties. The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACES) determined that being subjected to instances of violence can potentially lead to detrimental physical conditions, including: teen pregnancy, smoking, substance abuse, instability in the workforce and personal relationships, suicide, HIV, STDs, and early death. Researchers are also exploring the link between exposure to violence and cardiovascular health outcomes, suggesting that chronic environmental stress might contribute to the development of essential hypertension.
In an interview with Barbara Raymond, Program Director for Policy, Communications, and Strategy at The California Endowment, potential solutions were discussed for improving health outcomes for boys and young men of color. Raymond spoke highly of hospital-based violence prevention programs. Although hospitals are well-equipped to deal with the blood loss, tissue destruction, and death resulting immediately from community violence, they are seldom able to address the victims’ downstream physical and mental consequences. After being hospitalized for their injuries, youth are sent back to the same situations and violent environments from which their injuries ensued. Without violence-prevention programs, returning to this lifestyle can lead to spiraling retaliation, traumatic reinjury, involvement in the criminal justice system, and even death. The critical moment when these patients are being treated in the emergency room is an opportune time for health-care professionals to refer them to hospital-based violence prevention programs. Studies show that the success rate for these programs is high, with participating patients three times less likely to be arrested for a subsequent violent crime and four times less likely to later be convicted of a violent crime.
Raymond then mentioned how Dr. John A. Rich, Chair of the Department of Health Management and Policy at Drexel University, has been especially instrumental in raising awareness for hospital-based violence prevention programs. Dr. Rich is a staff member of the “Healing Hurt People” program, created by the Center for Nonviolence and Social Justice at the Drexel University School of Public Health. He emphasizes the importance of tending to the emotional wounds of young people who have incurred violent injuries. According to Dr. Rich, “I think it’s an opportunity for us to educate them about these wounds of trauma and that by addressing the wounds of trauma, we can make a difference.” Instead of using traditional punitive measures, the strategy is to provide needed social and care services to victims of violence and trauma. When a patient comes into the emergency department at Hahnemann Hospital, he is met by care providers from the Center, who see if the patient needs insurance, job training, legal support, substance abuse treatment, food assistance, and other types of social services.
Similar programs across the nation share Dr. Rich’s opinion concerning the need to address patients’ trauma and mental health issues. In California, the Alameda County Medical Center collaborated with Youth ALIVE!, a youth violence prevention nonprofit agency, to develop a hospital-based peer intervention program called “Caught in the Crossfire.” The partnership’s method of using youth violence “intervention specialists” has been utilized by these types of programs throughout the country, including the Safe Community Partnership in California. This tactic has been particularly effective for easing emotional distress and trauma because the peer mediators come from the same neighborhoods as the victims come and are earlier perpetrators and victims of youth violence. According to Ms. Raymond, these interactions are more meaningful than conversations with law enforcement, legal authorities, and even church leaders because the peer intermediaries share the victims’ same backgrounds and language.
The concept of improving outcomes for boys of color can be difficult to visualize, so Barbara Raymond uses the metaphor of a highway to represent how boys and young men of color can be propelled toward success. “The idea is to keep these boys on the highway so they can go though school, get jobs, and live healthy, fulfilled lives. We try to maximize ‘on-ramps’ to help them get on track, while minimizing ‘off-ramps’ that divert them away.” For youth violence prevention, maximizing on-ramps means implementing effective hospital-based peer-directed youth violence intervention programs on a national scale. Minimizing off-ramps means taking a community-led approach to addressing violence and crime. By linking strategies for improving health, such as hospital-based violence prevention programs, with complementary strategies for making communities safer, better health outcomes for boys and young men of color can be achieved.
Best Practices and Research Yield Real Strategies
By Ellen London, D.C. Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation
At the DC Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation, we know the philosophy and principles of youth development result in improved outcomes for children and youth, giving them the tools to make better decisions as they transition to adulthood. We have seen young people thrive when given the right opportunities, support, respect and mentoring relationships. Young men and women in the District’s youth development programs have made remarkable and inspiring accomplishments. These programs are combating the exposure to violence and world of temptations that youth in our society face every day, especially low-income, young men of color.
Though some youth violence prevention programs target the most “at risk” youth, or address individual issues such as poor academics or substance abuse, research has shown that this deficit-based model alone is ineffective in fully addressing the root causes of youth violence. Instead, a more holistic approach to youth development has been shown to have more of an impact on overall youth violence rates. Youth development stresses cooperation instead of competition, coordination instead of fragmentation, and funding that supports redevelopment of entire communities.
A great deal of research and experience teaches us strategies for effectively helping youth build a bridge from a life with little hope to a life full of possibilities.
NEWS IN BRIEF
Explore Youth Development at the GCYF 2010 Annual Conference
Want to learn more about what grantmakers are doing to promote healthy youth development? Attending the GCYF 2010 Annual Conference, Children, Youth & Families: The Centerpiece of Change, is a great way to find out! Through presentations, tours and discussions, three Conference sessions will showcase innovative approaches to address the unique needs of youth. Don't miss these informative sessions:
* An Alternative to Juvenile Justice Involvement for Girls
* A Youth Development Approach to Juvenile Justice
* D.C. Promise Neighborhoods Initiative
Taking Action to Address Disparities Through Health Reform
Join Grantmakers in Health at 2pm ET on July 28 for an overview of key provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that are designed to improve the health of communities of color. The speakers will discuss current and emerging areas of opportunity through which health funders may be able to support the implementation of these provisions. To register for this audioconference, send an e-mail to disparities@gih.org. This audioconference is open only to GIH Funding Partners and GCYF members.
White House Unveils National HIV/AIDS Strategy
On July 12 the White House Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP) released the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, a comprehensive plan for fighting HIV in our country. In his remarks at a reception with HIV/AIDS policy experts and activists, President Obama acknowledged that as a Nation, we have come a long way in the battle against the domestic HIV/AIDS epidemic, but that we still have much work left to do. Noting that the number of new infections in the United States has been static -- and that the number of people living with HIV is growing -- the new policy directs more resources toward four high-risk groups: African Americans, gay and bisexual men, Latinos, and substance abusers. African Americans comprise the greatest proportion of HIV/AIDS cases across many transmission categories, including among women, heterosexual men, injection drug users, and infants. Download the Strategy in its entirety or learn more at AIDS.gov.
Read the president's speech or watch the video.
FEATURED REPORTS
Healthy Communities Matter: The Importance of Place to the Health of Boys of Color
Making Progress: Movement Toward Racial Justice
The Rising Price of Inequality: How Inadequate Grant Aid Limits College Access and Persistence
It Takes Two to Tango: Defining the Role of Fathers
Programs that support healthy youth development and provide positive adult interaction are key to countering the negative experiences many youth in our country experience on a daily basis. In this issue of the Healthy Men, Healthy Communities newsletter we take a look at how foundations and political leaders are supporting programs that foster healthy youth development.
Representative Robert Scott leads the discussion by articulating the importance of policies that support healthy youth development, prevention, intervention and rehabilitation.
Next, an article by Stephanie Snyder, Program Intern at GCYF, reports on what one of the leading health foundations in the country, The California Endowment, has discovered in the connection between community violence and negative health outcomes for young men and boys of color.
Finally, Ellen London, President & CEO of the DC Children and Youth Investment Trust offers strategies for funders to ensure that youth violence prevention programs incorporate a youth development approach.
We hope you like the new design of our Healthy Men, Healthy Communities newsletter. This new format helps readers gain important insight into current topics affecting minority men and boys while gaining access to resources available in the field.
Best Regards,
Dr. Stephanie McGencey, Ph.D., MPH
Executive Director
Grantmakers for Children, Youth & Families
Youth PROMISE Act
By Representative Robert Scott, Virginia's 3rd District
During my more than 30 years of public service, I have learned that when it comes to crime policy, we have a choice – we can reduce crime, or we can “play politics”. For far too long, Congress has chosen to “play politics” by enacting so-called “tough on crime” slogans such as “three strikes and you’re out”, “mandatory minimum sentencing”, “life without parole”, “abolish parole” or “you do the adult crime, you do the adult time."
Because Congress has enacted so many of these “tough on crime,” slogan-based policies, the United States now has the highest incarceration rate of any nation in the world, with over 700 persons incarcerated for every 100,000 in the population. The impact of this focus on tough law enforcement approaches falls disproportionately on minorities, particularly Blacks and Hispanics. While the average incarceration rate in the United States is 7 times the international average, for Blacks the average rate is over 2200 per 100,000, and the rate in some jurisdictions exceeds 4,000 per 100,000 Blacks, a rate 40 times the international average. These statistics are even more troubling in light of the Pew Center on the States’ study “1 in 31,” which found that incarceration rates higher than the range of 350-500 per 100,000 are counterproductive when it comes to reducing crime. In addition to being racially prejudiced and counterproductive, increased incarceration is not cheap. Since 1982, the cost of incarceration in this country has risen from $9 billion annually to over $65 billion a year.
The impact of an overly punitive criminal justice approach falls disproportionately on youth of color. The Sentencing Project estimates that without an appropriate intervention, one of every three black boys who is born today will end up incarcerated in their lifetime. These children are on a trajectory the Children’s Defense Fund has described as a “cradle-to-prison pipeline,” characterized among other things by poverty, a struggling education system, and an unresponsive, punitive juvenile justice system. Emphasizing the inefficiency of increased sanctions in stemming youth crime and delinquency, No More Children Left Behind Bars, a report by Harvard Law School's Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice, cites an exhaustive review of empirical studies and concludes: “Incarceration is a spectacularly unsuccessful treatment.” The U.S. Department of Justice National Criminal Justice Reference Service has also found incarceration does little to disrupt the violent activities of gang-affiliated inmates. Research reveals that prisons and detention centers can in fact strengthen gang affiliations and become a breeding ground for potential gang activity. Insofar as youth in the community form gangs for protection and family-like relationships, incarcerated youth have an even greater need for protection.
Despite overwhelming evidence that over-incarceration is not the answer, the US spends far more resources arresting and prosecuting young people who aren't violent than trying to eliminate the actual causes of gang involvement and youth crime. The good news is that by changing our approach, and investing wisely in our most important resource in this country – our children and youth – we can change the paradigm.
We now have overwhelming evidence to show that it is entirely feasible to move children away from a cradle to prison pipeline to a cradle-to-college, or cradle-to-jobs, pipeline. Research reveals that a continuum of evidenced-based prevention and intervention programs for youth identified as being involved, or at risk of involvement, in delinquent behavior will greatly reduce crime and save much more than they cost when compared to the avoided law enforcement and social welfare expenditures. Evidence-based and promising programs for teen pregnancy prevention, pre-natal care, new parent training, nurse home visits, Head Start, quality education, after-school programs, summer recreation and comprehensive job training programs have been proven to cost-effectively reduce crime. Research reveals that these programs are most effective when provided in the context of a coordinated, collaborative local strategy involving education, community-based services, health and mental health providers, law enforcement, and other local public and private entities working with children identified as at risk of involvement in the juvenile and criminal justice systems.
Based on this research, I introduced the Youth Prison Reduction through Opportunities, Mentoring, Intervention, Support, and Education (Youth PROMISE Act), H.R. 1064, which implements the best policy recommendations from crime policy makers, researchers, practitioners, analysts, and law enforcement officials from across the country and the political spectrum concerning evidence- and research-based strategies to prevent and reduce gang violence and crime.
Under the Youth PROMISE Act, officials, practitioners, volunteers, and others working with at-risk youth in communities facing the greatest youth gang and crime challenges come together to develop and implement a comprehensive plan to prevent and effectively intervene to stop youth violence. These plans consist of evidence-based and promising programs proven to be effective. The Youth PROMISE Act also provides for thorough evaluation and cost-analysis. In addition to reducing crime and providing better results in the lives of our youth, the programs funded under the Youth PROMISE Act will yield significant cost savings through reduced criminal justice costs, and related expenditures. A significant portion of the savings sustained through investment in prevention and intervention, and the resulting reductions in incarceration and related criminal justice costs, will be re-invested in the programs funding by the Youth PROMISE Act.
The Youth PROMISE Act currently has 235 co-sponsors in the House, 15 co-sponsors in the Senate, and is supported by a coalition of over 250 local, state and national organizations. With your help, this bill can finally become law this Congress.
For more information on the Youth PROMISE Act, please visit Robert Scott's website: http://www.bobbyscott.house.gov/ypa
Victims of Violence: the Health Consequences of Communities for Boys and Young Men of Color
By Stephanie Snyder, Program Intern, Grantmakers for Children, Youth & Families
Time and again, studies have shown that children living in impoverished urban areas are often exposed to high levels of community violence. A growing body of evidence suggests that this exposure dramatically increases their risk for negative health conditions. Studies have shown that these health disparities are especially pronounced for African-American and Latino boys and young men. However, research reveals that hospital-based violence prevention programs can help break the cycle of violence and reduce violent crime. These programs can play a vital role in addressing the physical and mental health issues experienced by boys and young men of color.
In June 2010, The California Endowment, one of the largest health foundations in the country, released a compelling report entitled “Healthy Communities Matter: The Importance of Place to the Health of Boys of Color.” The report highlights research on Black and Hispanic boys in California exposed to chronic poverty and violence, and estimates that they are twice as likely to be unhealthy in comparison with white boys. Robert Phillips, Director of Health and Human Services for The California Endowment, underscores the need for changes to address the health issues of these young men. Phillips stated, “This research shows that the health of African-American and Latino boys stems from their neighborhoods, their schools, their environments being unhealthy. According to the research, place and policy clearly matter to the health of these boys and young men.” Statistics in the report show that, as a result of increased amounts of violence in their communities, Black young men are 2.5 times more likely to experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) than white young men. Hispanic boys and young men are four times more likely to suffer from PTSD.
The report discussed how boys of color who face traumatic incidents have an increased risk of experiencing not only PTSD, but multiple other negative health outcomes as well. Studies of mental health show that witnessing community violence puts youth at risk for internalizing and externalizing problems, leading to depressive symptoms, lower self-esteem, and learning difficulties. The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACES) determined that being subjected to instances of violence can potentially lead to detrimental physical conditions, including: teen pregnancy, smoking, substance abuse, instability in the workforce and personal relationships, suicide, HIV, STDs, and early death. Researchers are also exploring the link between exposure to violence and cardiovascular health outcomes, suggesting that chronic environmental stress might contribute to the development of essential hypertension.
In an interview with Barbara Raymond, Program Director for Policy, Communications, and Strategy at The California Endowment, potential solutions were discussed for improving health outcomes for boys and young men of color. Raymond spoke highly of hospital-based violence prevention programs. Although hospitals are well-equipped to deal with the blood loss, tissue destruction, and death resulting immediately from community violence, they are seldom able to address the victims’ downstream physical and mental consequences. After being hospitalized for their injuries, youth are sent back to the same situations and violent environments from which their injuries ensued. Without violence-prevention programs, returning to this lifestyle can lead to spiraling retaliation, traumatic reinjury, involvement in the criminal justice system, and even death. The critical moment when these patients are being treated in the emergency room is an opportune time for health-care professionals to refer them to hospital-based violence prevention programs. Studies show that the success rate for these programs is high, with participating patients three times less likely to be arrested for a subsequent violent crime and four times less likely to later be convicted of a violent crime.
Raymond then mentioned how Dr. John A. Rich, Chair of the Department of Health Management and Policy at Drexel University, has been especially instrumental in raising awareness for hospital-based violence prevention programs. Dr. Rich is a staff member of the “Healing Hurt People” program, created by the Center for Nonviolence and Social Justice at the Drexel University School of Public Health. He emphasizes the importance of tending to the emotional wounds of young people who have incurred violent injuries. According to Dr. Rich, “I think it’s an opportunity for us to educate them about these wounds of trauma and that by addressing the wounds of trauma, we can make a difference.” Instead of using traditional punitive measures, the strategy is to provide needed social and care services to victims of violence and trauma. When a patient comes into the emergency department at Hahnemann Hospital, he is met by care providers from the Center, who see if the patient needs insurance, job training, legal support, substance abuse treatment, food assistance, and other types of social services.
Similar programs across the nation share Dr. Rich’s opinion concerning the need to address patients’ trauma and mental health issues. In California, the Alameda County Medical Center collaborated with Youth ALIVE!, a youth violence prevention nonprofit agency, to develop a hospital-based peer intervention program called “Caught in the Crossfire.” The partnership’s method of using youth violence “intervention specialists” has been utilized by these types of programs throughout the country, including the Safe Community Partnership in California. This tactic has been particularly effective for easing emotional distress and trauma because the peer mediators come from the same neighborhoods as the victims come and are earlier perpetrators and victims of youth violence. According to Ms. Raymond, these interactions are more meaningful than conversations with law enforcement, legal authorities, and even church leaders because the peer intermediaries share the victims’ same backgrounds and language.
The concept of improving outcomes for boys of color can be difficult to visualize, so Barbara Raymond uses the metaphor of a highway to represent how boys and young men of color can be propelled toward success. “The idea is to keep these boys on the highway so they can go though school, get jobs, and live healthy, fulfilled lives. We try to maximize ‘on-ramps’ to help them get on track, while minimizing ‘off-ramps’ that divert them away.” For youth violence prevention, maximizing on-ramps means implementing effective hospital-based peer-directed youth violence intervention programs on a national scale. Minimizing off-ramps means taking a community-led approach to addressing violence and crime. By linking strategies for improving health, such as hospital-based violence prevention programs, with complementary strategies for making communities safer, better health outcomes for boys and young men of color can be achieved.
Best Practices and Research Yield Real Strategies
By Ellen London, D.C. Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation
At the DC Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation, we know the philosophy and principles of youth development result in improved outcomes for children and youth, giving them the tools to make better decisions as they transition to adulthood. We have seen young people thrive when given the right opportunities, support, respect and mentoring relationships. Young men and women in the District’s youth development programs have made remarkable and inspiring accomplishments. These programs are combating the exposure to violence and world of temptations that youth in our society face every day, especially low-income, young men of color.
Though some youth violence prevention programs target the most “at risk” youth, or address individual issues such as poor academics or substance abuse, research has shown that this deficit-based model alone is ineffective in fully addressing the root causes of youth violence. Instead, a more holistic approach to youth development has been shown to have more of an impact on overall youth violence rates. Youth development stresses cooperation instead of competition, coordination instead of fragmentation, and funding that supports redevelopment of entire communities.
A great deal of research and experience teaches us strategies for effectively helping youth build a bridge from a life with little hope to a life full of possibilities.
- Participation in high-quality after-school programs decreases juvenile crime rates and involvement in risky behaviors (National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center, 2002).
- Youth attributed program success to three main characteristics: high-quality staff/peer interactions, self-directed activities where teens could gain leadership, and projects and activities that provided opportunities for social and interpersonal growth (The After-School Corporation , 2005)
At the Trust, we have seen the philosophy and principles of youth development result in improved outcomes for children and youth, giving young people the tools they need to make better decisions as they transition to adulthood. Some youth violence prevention programming targets youth who are considered most “at risk” for delinquent or violent behavior, or addresses specific issues such as poor academic achievement and substance abuse. However, research has shown that this deficit-based model alone is ineffective in fully addressing the root causes of youth violence. Instead, a more holistic approach to youth development has been shown to have more of an impact on overall youth violence rates. Youth development stresses cooperation instead of competition, coordination instead of fragmentation, and funding that supports redevelopment of entire communities.
How do we make this real for young people? By embedding opportunities and supports in programming and establishing developmental goals and nurturing relationships for youth. As funders, how can we work to ensure programs deliver these components? We have identified three strategies:
- Supporting and/or requiring training for youth development workers and funding at a level that sustains professional staff. Programs are most successful when youth workers are creative, well-trained, skilled at building relationships and can make long-term commitments to programs.
- Requiring intentional program design that articulates youth development outcomes as goals for program participants.
- Requiring external evaluation to support the program’s design and offer recommendations for improvement.
In our city, there is a strong sense of unity among providers, agencies and funders to ensure that the entire system is rooted in a common belief in the value of supportive services for youth. In addition to wonderful community-based programs that serve a broad spectrum of youth, the Trust is a partner in the Citywide Coordinating Council for Youth Violence Prevention and the Lead Entities Service Coalition, which create collaborative community-based systems to curb youth violence and reduce recidivism among formerly incarcerated youth. Through all of this work, we are committed to strengthening efforts across the District to instill the philosophy of positive youth development based on sound research, program design, and professional staff to ensure that all youth have a chance to succeed.
NEWS IN BRIEF
Explore Youth Development at the GCYF 2010 Annual Conference
Want to learn more about what grantmakers are doing to promote healthy youth development? Attending the GCYF 2010 Annual Conference, Children, Youth & Families: The Centerpiece of Change, is a great way to find out! Through presentations, tours and discussions, three Conference sessions will showcase innovative approaches to address the unique needs of youth. Don't miss these informative sessions:
* An Alternative to Juvenile Justice Involvement for Girls
* A Youth Development Approach to Juvenile Justice
* D.C. Promise Neighborhoods Initiative
Taking Action to Address Disparities Through Health Reform
Join Grantmakers in Health at 2pm ET on July 28 for an overview of key provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that are designed to improve the health of communities of color. The speakers will discuss current and emerging areas of opportunity through which health funders may be able to support the implementation of these provisions. To register for this audioconference, send an e-mail to disparities@gih.org. This audioconference is open only to GIH Funding Partners and GCYF members.
White House Unveils National HIV/AIDS Strategy
On July 12 the White House Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP) released the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, a comprehensive plan for fighting HIV in our country. In his remarks at a reception with HIV/AIDS policy experts and activists, President Obama acknowledged that as a Nation, we have come a long way in the battle against the domestic HIV/AIDS epidemic, but that we still have much work left to do. Noting that the number of new infections in the United States has been static -- and that the number of people living with HIV is growing -- the new policy directs more resources toward four high-risk groups: African Americans, gay and bisexual men, Latinos, and substance abusers. African Americans comprise the greatest proportion of HIV/AIDS cases across many transmission categories, including among women, heterosexual men, injection drug users, and infants. Download the Strategy in its entirety or learn more at AIDS.gov.
Read the president's speech or watch the video.
FEATURED REPORTS
Healthy Communities Matter: The Importance of Place to the Health of Boys of Color
Making Progress: Movement Toward Racial Justice
The Rising Price of Inequality: How Inadequate Grant Aid Limits College Access and Persistence
It Takes Two to Tango: Defining the Role of Fathers