PROGRAM IMPACT
Project Outreach
Project Outreach was developed in 1997 at the Encanto Branch of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater San Diego. Project Outreach was first developed based on a Boys & Girls Clubs of America Program called Gang Prevention/Intervention Through Targeted Outreach. This community-based program provides training, materials and technical assistance to Clubs and their community partners to keep young people ages 6-18 from becoming involved in gangs. The program's intervention component helps youth who are already involved with gangs to leave that lifestyle.
Today, Project Outreach has evolved into a model Juvenile Diversion program that decreases delinquency of youth 8-17 by providing neighborhood after-school support services for at-risk youth. The goal is to eliminate delinquent or criminal behavior among juveniles who are at risk of entering or re-entering juvenile justice system. Annually, more than 200 youth complete a 12-week program that includes counseling, tutoring, recreation and social skills training. The project continues to document a positive impact on participants and exceed goals. For example, in the last quarter, the project closed 182 client cases (goal = 174). Of those cases 93% had no further contact with the juvenile justice system (goal 80%).
Critical Hours
The Critical Hours program first began at the Boys & Girls Club's Encanto Branch (and in Escondido at Grant Middle School in 1997 and has since expanded to include a total of seven Boys & Girls Club sites. Critical Hours are the hours between 3-6 PM when at-risk youth have the greatest chance of getting into trouble. Through Critical Hours, the Boys & Girls Club provides free Club membership to youth who might be unsupervised at home or on the street. Program activities focus on life skills, homework/tutorial help, recreational activities, youth social events, creative writing, etc. The program has documented success and continues to meet or exceed program goals including:
- Youth demonstrated improved or sustained school performance
- Youth had reductions in risk behavior or low levels of adverse contact with the juvenile justice system
Smart Moves is a field-tested program to help young people develop skills to resist alcohol, tobacco, other drug use and premature sexual activity. SMART Moves is now used successfully in communities across the nation and was adapted by the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater San Diego to focus on tobacco prevention under a two year contract with the County of San Diego HHSA. The program is based on a resistance training/social skills model. Using small group activities, it teaches young people to recognize and resist media influences and peer pressures to engage in tobacco and other negative behaviors such a substance abuse.
In 2002 SMART Moves was implemented as a County of San Diego funded social skills and resistance training program at five Boys & Girls Clubs. The goal of SMART Moves under the County contract was to increase youth tobacco prevention services and reduce future morbidity and mortality due to tobacco usage in five San Diego communities that contain populations with health disparities. Through this grant, we directly reached 974 people. The 974 included youth, parents, staff and community representatives. An independent evaluation revealed that the program had significant, positive outcomes on participants including:
- 17% of participants age 10-12 demonstrated increased knowledge about negative physiological and social consequences of tobacco usage and second-hand smoke
- 49% of participants age 10-12 displayed increased knowledge about pressures from media from the media, tobacco industry or peers to use tobacco
- 8% of participants age 10-12 displayed increased skills to resist pressures from media, tobacco industry or peers to use tobacco
During the period of November, 2002 to August, 2003 the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater San Diego, in collaboration with the UCSD Division of Community Pediatrics provided nutrition education activities to youth at nine Boys & Girls Club sites and two public housing satellite sites located in the Central Region and Inland North County Region. More than 1,000 youth (the majority of whom were low-income and minorities) participated in a variety of nutrition education activities such as poster contests, cooking classes and nutrition education classes. An independent consultant conducted an evaluation of the program that documented the following program outcomes for participants:
- 27.7% increase in the understanding of food groups
- 20% increase in the understanding of recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables
- 11% increase in consumption of new fruits and vegetables
- 7.5% increase in belief that fruit and vegetable consumption is related to health
X-TRACK
Funded by the State of California, X-Track is an outcome-driven, before-school and after-school program that provides academic support and enrichment activities at four middle schools in Escondido. Over 2,200 students are enrolled in the program, and each site serves approximately 80-200 children per day. In 2004, an evaluation revealed that:
- 73% of parents reported a noticeable improvement in their child 's academic performance
- 71% of students improved their regular school day attendance and/or maintained a 95% level of attendance
- 83% of parents reported a decrease in their child 's participation in unsafe and risky behaviors