Transitional Youth Project Best Practices Summary
From Voices for Ohio's Children
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Cuyahoga County Transitional Youth Project Snapshot of Best Practices and Research: National
Overview
The purpose of this document is to provide a brief overview of some of the ideas and resources available on transitional youth. It is called a Snapshot because it offers a sampling of views and ideas. By no means should it be seen as a comprehensive review.
Description of Target Group
Youth issues are a priority… encompassing the supports and services needed for healthy youth development, and the individuals, organizations, networks, and systems that interact to improve outcomes for and develop leadership skills in youth to empower them to transition successfully into adulthood. (Grantmakers for Children, Youth & Families, http://www.gycf.org)
The Goal for Youth in Transition
If youth become autonomous, connected, educated, and productive, then they will more likely achieve economic self-sufficiency, physical and mental well-being, and community engagement. (from National Center on Youth Transition, http://www.ntacyt.fmhi.usf.edu)
Principles & Tips for Developing a Strategy/Initiative
Principles:
- Multiple pathways to success
- View youth as resources
- Intervene early and don’t give up on older youth
- Commit to comprehensive approaches
Tips:
- Convene disconnected youth stakeholders
- Assess community resources and needs
- Involve disconnected youth in planning and policy discussions
- Start with in-kind or limited resources and build
- Build public support for change
(Reengaging Disconnected Youth Action Kit, http://www.nlc.org/iyef)
Best Practices of Programs
Common characteristics among the effective programs/policies include:
(1) high educational and behavioral expectations for all young people, accompanied by supports to meet those expectations,
(2) capacity building,
(3) valuing diversity and employing culturally competent approaches,
(4) collaborating with families and supporting their active participation in designing, developing, implementing, and evaluating interventions and programs,
(5) attending to assessment and early intervention,
(6) developing and supporting staff capacity, and
(7) collaborative, consumer-driven wrap-around approaches.
(from Osher, David and Tom. V. Hanley (2001). Implementing the SED National Agenda: Promising Programs and Policies for Children and Youth With Emotional and Behavioral Problems. Education and Treatment of Children, 24 (3): 374-403.)
Key Websites for Research, Models, and Programs
Annie E. Casey Foundation, http://www.aecf.org
Chapin Hall, http://www.chapinhall.org
Grantmakers for Children, Youth & Families, http://www.gcyf.org
National Center on Youth in Transition, http://www.ntacyt.fmhi.usf.edu
National Evaluation and Technical Assistance Center for the Education of Children and Youth, http://www.neglected-delinquent.org/nd/default.asp
National Secondary Transition Technical Assistance Center, http://www.nsttac.org
National Youth Employment Coalition, http://www.nyec.org
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, http://www.ojjdp.ncjrs.org
Public/Private Ventures, http://www.ppv.org
Transitions to Independence Process System, http://tip.fmhi.usf.edu
Youth Transition Funders Group, http://www.ytfg.org
There are innumerable sources available on the web and in print on research, policy analysis, and program review/evaluation. A sampling of what’s available is listed below in an attempt to reflect the wide range of topics covered.
Best Practices: Resources on the Web
Connected by 25: Improving the Life Chances of the Country’s Most Vulnerable 14-24 Year Olds, Walk, M. & Martinez, T., William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Working Paper: Youth Transition Funders Group
- This paper makes a case for re-thinking how we think about and connect older children and young adults to the programs, policies, and services offered them.
Click here to view this document
Changing the Landscape for Opportunity for Vulnerable Youth: Annenberg Institute for School Reform (Summer 2006)
- Lucretia Murphy describes work in communities and states designed to develop a systemic approach to expanding learning options and improving outcomes for students who are struggling or who have left school.
Click here to view this document
It’s My Life: A Framework for Youth Transitioning from Foster Care: Casey Family Programs
- This paper presents a holistic approach for those who play a role in how young adults envision and achieve success in adulthood.
Click here to view the It's My Life website Click here to view the full report Click here to view the summary Click here to view the fact sheet
From the National League of Cities
Reengaging Disconnected Youth - This action kit, the seventh in the series produced for municipal leaders by the YEF Institute, highlights steps that city officials can take to help young people who are not connected to school, work, or caring adults.
Click here to view this action kit
Connecting Vulnerable Youth: A Municipal Leaders Guide - In cooperation with the Academy for Educational Development's Center for Youth Development and Policy Research, this brief publication provides an in-depth look into the roles municipal leaders play in the lives of disconnected youth and gives an overview of effective approaches and promising strategies. It poses 7 questions that municipal officials can ask in their communities to jump start local initiatives.
Click here to view this document
The Alternative Pathways Project: A Framework for Dropout Reduction and Recovery - This project, launched in early 2005, builds upon investments in the Alternative High School Initiative to expand the range of model schools for vulnerable youth, and outlines critical elements for school districts developing educational pathways for struggling students and those who have dropped out of school. The Framework highlights policies and practices that push children out of school, suggests strategies for overcoming barriers to re-enrolling in school, and gives direction for expanding educational alternatives that are effective for vulnerable youth.
Click here to view this document
Whatever It Takes: How Twelve Communities Are Reconnecting Out-of-School Youth - This report documents what committed educators, policymakers, and community leaders across the country are doing to reconnect out-of-school youth to the social and economic mainstream.
Click here to view the "Whatever It Takes" webpage
Click here to view the full report
The OJJDP Model Programs Guide: The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's Guide profiles more than 175 prevention and intervention programs and helps communities identify those that best suit their needs. Users can search the Guide's database by program category, target population, risk and protective factors, effectiveness rating, and other parameters.
Click here to visit the Model Programs Guide
Powerful Pathways: Framing Options and Opportunities for Vulnerable Youth: This publication by the Youth Transition Funders Group describes creative, effective efforts to connect these youth to work, education and a social support network by age 25.
Click here to view this document
Promising Practices: The Annie E. Casey Foundation
This paper reviews some of the best practices and programs in preparing foster care youth for career opportunities and economic self-sufficiency.
Click here to view this document
Promising Practices: Supporting Transitions for Youth Served by the Foster Care System: National Foster Care Awareness Project
Eleven criteria and recommendations emerged from survey research to reflect the current trends in the literature, survey data and the thoughts and experiences of “experts” in the field.
Click here to view this document
Serving High-Risk Youth: Lessons from Research and Programming (September 2002): This publication by Public/Private Ventures is an assessment of programs based on past and present research. Lessons from research, implementation, and operations are included along with a descriptive overview of a few new and innovative programs.
Click here to view this document
A Summary of Best Practices in School Reentry, A Report by the JustChildren Program of the Legal Aid Justice Center (November 2004): Study of best practices in school reenrollment for young people leaving juvenile facilities and returning to their home schools.
Click here to view this document
Resources in Print
Nurturing and Working in Partnership with Parents During Transition, Hatter, R. A., Williford, M. and Dickens, K. (2000), Chapter 11
- This chapter focuses on how families of young people in transition are essential to the process of moving successfully into adulthood.
Sample, P. L. (1998). Postschool Outcomes for Students with Significant Emotional Disturbance Following Best-Practice Transition Services. Behavioral Disorders, 23 (4): 231-242.
- This article investigates the relationship between six best practices (vocational intervention, paid work experience, social skills curriculum, interagency collaboration, parent involvement, and individualized plans/planning) and postschool outcomes of employment and community adjustment.
Osher, D. and Hanley, T. V. (2001). Implementing the SED National Agenda: Promising Programs and Policies for Children and Youth With Emotional and Behavioral Problems. Education and Treatment of Children, 24 (3): 374-403.
- This article investigated programs or policies that implemented the model purported by the National Agenda for Achieving Better Results for Children and Youth with Serious Emotional Disturbance.
Davis, M. & Hunt, B., (March 2005). State Efforts to Expand Transition Supports for Young Adults Receiving Public Mental Health Services, Report for American Institutes for Research.
- IMPLICATIONS: “There is scant academic literature on the young adult age group or services for them, and no federal leadership on the issue. The few states that have made a concerted effort to address their needs have the goal of making all adult MH services developmentally appropriate, and view the needs of this age group as being quite distinct from those of more mature adults. Thus, there is developing expertise and leadership available to states that choose to address this system gap.” (p. iv)
Best Practices: Programs
From RAND Corporation's Promising Practices Network (PPN) website. PPN is a group of individuals and organizations who are dedicated to providing quality evidence-based information about what works to improve the lives of children, families, and communities. A few programs selected from their list of promising practices:
Be Proud! Be Responsible!
Big Brothers Big Sisters of America
Communities In Schools
Guiding Good Choices
I Have a Dream
Know Your Body
LifeSkills Training
Multisystemic Therapy (MST)
Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies
Quantum Opportunity Program (QOP)
Reducing the Risk
Teen Outreach Program
Teen Talk
The Guardian Scholars program, sponsored by the Orangewood Children's Foundation, offers emancipated foster youth financial aid, housing and mentoring so that they can attend participating colleges -- and it boasts a retention rate of nearly 70 percent, better than the community at large.
The National Evaluation and Technical Assistance Center for the Education of Children and Youth Who are Neglected, Delinquent and At Risk – Highlighted programs that are new and innovative.
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's Model Programs Guide (MPG) breaks down spotlighted programs into five core areas: Prevention, Immediate Sanctions, Intermediate Sanctions, Residential, & Reentry.
