As the youth mentoring field has expanded and diversified in America over the last 30-plus years, many adults who care about getting these valuable relationships to more young people have asked questions about the scope and scale of mentoring in American society. In 2014, MENTOR first started to examine these societal level trends in a seminal…

Objectives: Given the high rates at which adolescents engage in violence, the strong link between adolescent and adult violence, and the financial and social costs of violence, the prevention of violent behavior is a national priority. Methods: The authors conducted a comprehensive review of evaluations utilizing quasi-experimental or experimental…

"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…

Advances in prevention science in the past 25 years provide important direction for neighborhood and community efforts to improve the lives of youth. Prevention scientists have applied a public health approach to youth problems such as drug use and delinquency, and have shown that these problems can be prevented. The identification of risk and…

Defines drug problem as a community problem and advocates total community interest and involvement, including youth, in mobilizing resources for solutions to the problem. (KJ)

Community-based organizations that worked effectively with urban youth were found to resemble experiential education programs. The finding was remarkable because the organizations did not identify themselves as places where experiential education took place. A study of four organizations examined ways in which they help youth to become more…

The former HEW (Health, Education, and Welfare) National Strategy for Youth Development Model proposed a community-based program to promote positive youth development and to prevent delinquency through a sequence of youth needs assessments, needs-targeted programs, and program impact evaluation. HEW Community Program Impact Scales data obtained…

Adolescents at high risk for not making a successful transition into adulthood may become school dropouts, abuse drugs and other substances, exhibit poor problem-solving skills, and display a wide variety of nonproductive or destructive behaviors. An after-school program, Youth 2000 Visions, was designed to assist local adolescents in addressing…

This research brief highlights studies of nationally- and locally-based youth mentoring programs. The programs were evaluated on an experimentally based design which compared a group of youth randomly assigned to a mentoring program with a group of youth who were not so assigned. The study found overall that mentoring programs can be effective…

This publication contains the proceedings of the Senate Subcommittee on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse hearings in April 1981, which reviewed and evaluated current alcohol and drug education programs and the role of its government. Statements by government staff as well as nationwide directors of alcohol and drug education programs are provided along…

The effects of a community-based program designed to delay onset and reduce frequency of alcohol and drug use among high-risk youth are evaluated. Implemented in multiple church communities, program components include parent and youth training, early intervention services, and follow-up case management services. Implications for social work are…

These hearings, focusing on financial support for community-based programs dealing with problems of runaway and homeless youths, explore the scope of the problem, types of activities which are being undertaken, and paths for future action. Testimony and prepared statements are presented by several witnesses including a commissioner of the…

This report includes the background papers developed for an invitational workshop on mental health program development for minority youth and their families, and a summary of the recommendations made and actions to be taken. Section I presents an overall framework and an overview of the issues that were explored in greater depth at the workshop.…

The Junior Police program utilized non-academic youth interests as its foundation. The project filled the need for a youth organization, a youth clearinghouse, and more aid to delinquent and predelinquent youth to redirect them into ways of thinking and acting beneficial both to themselves and to the community. The objectives of the program were…

A report from the 1988 Aspen Institute Conference reports that Hispanic youth are more likely to work at full-time jobs and are slightly more likely to work year-round than either Blacks or Whites, regardless of gender or age. But although jobs are available and Hispanics want to work, fundamental changes in the nature of the economy, low wage…