Public Issues Youth Development and Engagement
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Project Report - 20084-H New Communities ProjectsProject Leader: Karen Barshefsky Participating Extension Staff and Faculty:
This project addressed the following UMass Extension Critical Issue:
DescriptionThe New Communities Project addresses Youth Development and Engagement by helping youth to cultivate the skills and behaviors that will help them to succeed academically and in the workplace. The project is conducted in separate sites in North Adams, MA an in the South End/Lower Roxbury community in the greater Boston area. In North Adams, the target audience is youth who are on probation with the goal of reducing the likelihood that youth will re-enter the juvenile justice system while building job skills. In South End/Lower Roxbury project reaches youth from different neighborhoods through cooperating youth-serving agencies, to have them learn useful skills, work together, and accumulate relevant experience that will then prepare them to be successful in working with children or their peers in their community as well as in seeking future employment. The New Communities Project incorporates workforce readiness as a unifying theme, bringing together youth to develop skills, accumulate appropriate job experiences, and understand the college admissions process. The project also encourages positive interaction and collaboration across traditional boundaries within in the community in an effort to reduce at-risk behavior while seeking to integrate urban youth programming into the base of the 4-H program in Massachusetts.
Activity SummaryNorth Adams - This project involved a mandated workshop series facilitated by the Extension Educator. Three separate groups of youth met for a period of ten weeks each and were involved in workshops on decision-making, conflict resolution, problem- solving, communication, goal-setting, aspiration-building, character-building, and workforce readiness. Also included in the sessions was information on pregnancy prevention, health and sexuality. A workshop manual was developed for ongoing use by the probation department as a way to sustain the program once funding has ended. Twenty-four youth were involved in the North Adams program during the 2008 project year. South End/Lower Roxbury - Extension Educators collaborated with four community- based organizations in the Boston area: Youth and Police in Partnership Program (YPP), Robert F. Kennedy Children's Action Corps (RFK), Castle Square Tenants Organization (CSTA), and Inquilinos Boriquas en Accion (IBA). A variety of workshops were offered to youth connected with these organizations that focused on workforce and college readiness, communication skills, and conflict. In addition workshops on workforce and college preparation were provided to teens from the O'Bryant High School as part of their "Gearing Up For Independence" Program. Project staff also coordinated with The Education Resources Institute to provide campus tour to UMass Amherst for teens from Boston. Results SummaryData collected for project outcomes for the North Adams New Communities project came from three sources: the young people who participated in workforce readiness and character education workshops, community agency staff who supervised youth workers in the summer program, and the probation officer responsible for referring young people to the program. Results show that youth in the workforce readiness program gained knowledge, skills, and confidence for the job search process. The probation officer reported that the most youth had been "highly successful" in their summer jobs, a finding which was further corroborated by interviews with youth work supervisors. Data collected for project outcomes for the South End/Lower Roxbury New Communities project came from surveys of the youth who participated in the program and from partner agency staff who collaborated with the Massachusetts 4-H program. The overall picture from the surveys returned was very positive across all the workshop series. Youth felt that they were gaining valuable experiences and developing useful knowledge and skills. Partner agency staff felt that collaborating with 4-H had helped their program to become more effective and sustainable. In particular they stressed the importance of the additional curriculum resources and program opportunities, more professional development and enhanced networking. Planned outcomes and observed or measured progress
Activities, delivery mode and participants reachedConduct Training Modules for Youth Involved With Probation Work with community organizations to enroll youth into the Massachusetts 4-H Program New Communities Project - administrative site visits Training modules with a focus on work skills and college awareness Visits to college campuses
This project is a part of the 4-H Program
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