Mentoring programs for incarcerated youth have shown promising outcomes with researchers suggesting that this population can benefit from mentoring relationships. A mentor provides guidance and support to youthful offenders. Having a caring adult involved in the life of a youth at risk may help them overcome adversity and develop the skills…

Context: Vocational education and training (VET) plays a key role in reducing early leaving from education and training, and integrating youth at risk in upper secondary education. To ensure that more young people complete upper secondary education, the OECD suggests designing interventions that address the specific needs of youth at risk such as…

Child- and family-serving programs in community-based settings wield tremendous power for improving the lives of infants and toddlers. In this article, three authors, from Ohio, Montana, and Sierra Leone, describe the principles of adaptive leadership and will share their real-world applications. Their stories explore critical questions for…

Examples of behavioral interventions that are efficacious in the research setting as well as practical and translatable to the "real-world" are critically needed as models for social work researchers and clinicians. This article presents the Changing High-Risk Alcohol Use and Improving Contraception Effectiveness Study (CHOICES)…

This article presents the results of a process evaluation of the Alaska Native (AN) Colorectal Cancer (CRC) Family Outreach Program, which encourages CRC screening among AN first-degree relatives (i.e., parents, siblings, adult children; hereafter referred to as relatives) of CRC patients. Among AN people incidence and death rates from CRC are the…

Teaching youths who affiliate with a gang can be a daunting task. Risk factors for gang membership often compound across life domains and affect pro-social connectedness, cause feelings of marginalization, and hinder life-skill development. Sports and physical activities that are structured within a positive youth-development framework provide an…

Background: This paper discusses the Rural Center for AIDS/STD Prevention's effort to develop a web-based service called Project CREATE that responds to a need for targeted health promotion materials expressed by directors of HIV/STD prevention services in predominately rural states. Purpose: Project CREATE allows users to select customized…

Data about the quality of attachment between infants and parents in high-risk populations suggests that early intervention may be advantageous for positive developmental outcomes for the child. Mothers in prison represent a high-risk parenting population in terms of both attachment histories and economic and social risk factors. New Beginnings was…

This guidebook explores some of the practical issues associated with finding, choosing, and starting potentially effective prevention programs for at-risk preteens and teens. The guidebook is based on a study of 51 intervention programs that identified elements and delivery mechanisms that were associated with their effectiveness. A closer look at…

This report provides three case studies illustrating the characteristics and general nature of selected family support programs in socially vulnerable communities. The profile of each program provides in-depth information about how the program operates. Fundamental barriers to program development and service provision are identified, and specific…

The nation's first coordinated, statewide teenage pregnancy prevention and support program, Parents Too Soon (PTS), is an interagency effort which accomplishes its goals through an integrated, cooperative effort and provides critical medical, social, nutritional, educational, and vocational services to male and female youth between 10 and 20 years…

Discusses the Free to Grow initiative, a five-year program aimed at increasing the capacity of Head Start to help prevent substance abuse. The collaborative program is designed to assist a number of local Head Start programs to develop and implement model substance abuse prevention projects that will strengthen both the families and neighborhoods…

This report was written in an effort to establish a new strategy for reducing the odds of failure for thousands of Arizona's vulnerable children and their families. It echoes the sentiments of a growing number of policymakers, concerned citizens, and parents who hold that the cost of child and family problems is so dramatic, and the amount of…

Examines the development and implementation of the Pawtucket Heart Health Program (PHHP), a community research and demonstration project in Pawtucket (Rhode Island) focusing on PHHP's school intervention project, designed to help decrease the prevalence of cardiovascular disease risk factors among the students and staff of Pawtucket schools. (MDM)

This report is designed to help law enforcement administrators and officers understand and institute a strategy to help prevent violence through community oriented policing services carried out in collaboration with youth-serving organizations. Descriptions of programs are based on a study that involved a survey of 579 affiliates of 7 national…