Background: Teen pregnancy continues to burden families, communities, and society. Programs continue to educate and impower youth and young adults to make positive behavioral decisions. Methods: We evaluated a program aimed at high-risk youth in after-school programs. The goal of the program was to instill a sense of community and empathy, as well…

The Voices of Youth Count initiative's systematic evidence review is the most comprehensive synthesis of evaluation evidence on programs and practices related to youth homelessness to date. Herein, evaluations of outreach interventions for youth experiencing homelessness are summarized. Outreach is a set of activities in which service providers…

This Research-to-Impact brief is the eighth in a series from Voices of Youth Count. Voices of Youth Count is a national research and policy initiative designed to fill critical gaps in the nation's knowledge about unaccompanied homelessness among youth and young adults ages 13 to 25. Voices of Youth Count research estimated that nearly 4.2 million…

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among college students. One effective strategy for suicide prevention is gatekeeper training. Gatekeeper training has been described as a prevention strategy that improves detection and referral of at-risk individuals. Purdue recognized that only some of the resident assistants (RAs) were receiving this…

"The Role of Risk: Mentoring Experiences and Outcomes for Youth with Varying Risk Profiles" presents findings from the first large-scale study to examine how the levels and types of risk youth face may influence their relationships with program-assigned mentors and the benefits they derive from these relationships. The study looked…

This article highlights findings from an evaluation that explored the impact of mobile versus clinic-based testing, rapid versus central-lab based testing, incentives for testing, and the use of a computer counseling program to guide counseling and automate evaluation in a mobile program reaching people of color at risk for HIV. The program's…

"The Role of Risk: Mentoring Experiences and Outcomes for Youth with Varying Risk Profiles" presents findings from the first large-scale study to examine how the levels and types of risk youth face may influence their relationships with program-assigned mentors and the benefits they derive from these relationships. The study looked…

This article describes a model designed to engage very high-risk pregnant and parenting young mothers who are not traditionally served by home visiting or other young parent programs. These disengaged young mothers do not live in stable environments: they are street or gang involved, in danger of dropping out of school or have already dropped out,…

This paper describes an exploratory evaluation of the Peers Early Education Partnership "Room to Play", an innovative and experimental "drop-in" service seeking to attract and engage "hard-to-reach" families in one of the most deprived areas of a Midlands city. Located in a shop unit of a busy community shopping…

In 2006, more than 6 million individuals were victimized by violent crimes. Although violence is below levels of the early 1990s, it remains high. The extent of violence and its impact highlight a critical need to develop and implement effective programs to reduce violence and victimization. Communities have initiated a wide range of such…

We examined the immediate, short- and long-term effectiveness of the SNAP[TM] Under 12 Outreach Project (ORP)--a community-based program for children under the age of 12 at risk of having police contact. Sixteen pairs of children were matched on age, sex and severity of delinquency at admission, and randomly assigned to the ORP or to a control…

This report addresses three levels of questions about the effectiveness of the Michigan State University Multiple Risk Outreach Program (MROP). The MROP was designed to recruit families from this high-risk population and test the implementation of an intervention protocol in a population-based program for 3- to 6-year-olds and their families. This…

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a community health promotion project to increase HIV knowledge in an urban, immigrant Latino community in Chicago. Latino participants (N = 704) answered questions on HIV before and after an education intervention given by community health workers. Outcomes included changes in knowledge and self-perceived…

The authors provide examples of sports-based youth development programs and offer information about program mission and vision, program design and content, evaluation results, and program sustainability. The four sports-based youth development programs presented are Harlem RBI, Tenacity, Snowsports Outreach Society, and Hoops & Leaders…

Until recently, teen pregnancy and birth rates had declined steadily in the United States in recent years. Despite these declines, the United States has the highest teen birth rate and one of the highest rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among all industrialized nations. To help young people reduce their risk for pregnancy and STIs,…