This paper discusses the potential of school district-based and community-wide approaches to dropout prevention, and provides a summary of the goals and expected outcomes of the Consortium on Dropout Prevention, and the Urban Dropout Prevention Collaboratives Program. The Consortium on Dropout Prevention was formed to cooperatively gather and…

Over 10 years, the researchers studied community-based organizations (CBO) for young people, eventually examining the work of approximately 120 youth-based organizations in 34 different cities. A look at these organizations and the young people they serve shows that CBOs offer a means of reaching at-risk youth, and that they can have a significant…

Mentoring programs enrich children's lives, help meet their need for positive adult contact, and provide one-on-one support and advocacy. Positive mentoring experiences have proved to be an effective tool to help youth overcome the risk factors that can lead to problems such as educational failure, dropping out of school, and involvement in…

Presents the concept of a school-based resource coordinating team as a mechanism for enhancing collaboration among school support services and programs. Outlines the use of social workers as organization facilitators in developing and maintaining such teams, and highlights some of the challenges encountered in the process. (JPS)

To support community efforts to reach out to African American youth confronted with high-risk environments in the cities, the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention has launched the Urban Youth Public Education Campaign. This campaign targets 9- to 13-year-old African American youth in high-risk inner-city environments. The campaign is designed to…

A case is made for establishing more community-based socialization programs for 10- to 15-year-old black males from disadvantaged families in poor neighborhoods. It is argued that effectively run neighborhood-based programs can accomplish the following: (1) establish caring and nurturing relationships that earn youths' attention and trust; (2)…

The Urban Youth Public Education campaign was a Center for Substance Abuse Prevention initiative that embodied the concept of targeted programming in terms of cultural sensitivity and community participation. The Campaign, which began in 1990, targeted inner-city African American children, youth, and families in 14 initial sites. Other sites were…

The Subcommittee on Human Resources and Intergovernmental Relations of the House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform and Oversight met to consider the causes of and solutions to teen pregnancy and the role of community organizations in prevention efforts. Opening remarks by Representative Christopher Shays were followed by statements…

The CASASTART Field Guide is the result of 9 years of research, experience, and evaluation in cities where the program has enhanced the capacity of communities to serve high-risk youth through formal partnerships that reduce their use of drugs and alcohol and promote their positive development. The Field Guide is a practical "how to" manual on…

This bulletin contends that before a school can implement an effective program for fighting drug abuse it must first examine a series of questions: What do we mean by "abuse"? What characterizes young people at risk for this dangerous behavioral pattern? Do we distinguish between drug "abuse" and drug "use"? Does the "Just Say NO!" message work?…

Effective systems of integrated, sequential, and systematic programming strategies at the state and local level are required to meet the needs of at-risk youth. The following six papers included in this compilation describe effective programs and practices that can be implemented in the local community, at the school district level, and in the…

A practicum strategy was designed and implemented that focused on reducing the negative impact of adverse environmental conditions in one particular neighborhood in a town in Alberta (Canada) with a population of 8,500. Children in this neighborhood were served by one elementary school (enrollment 383), from which the strategy was implemented. The…

Two different approaches to community involvement in the schools are demonstrated by participants in the School-Community Connection initiative of the Institute for Responsive Education. The Wisconsin school district connects students to the outside environment, while the Hawaii district brings supportive networks into the school to nurture…

This booklet offers a set of guidelines for developing a community-based coalition dedicated to improving the education of at-risk minority students. The guide offers and is organized around the following nine-step plan for the development and implementation of strategies to mobilize a community: (1) "the initiation: build core support"; (2)…

This paper describes the work of the National Council of La Raza to improve education for Hispanic students and their families. It provides an overview of the council's Innovative Education Project, an effort to demonstrate and evaluate effective models for use by affiliated community-based organizations to improve educational outcomes for…