Award Information
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2006, $493,614)
The YMCA of Greater St Petersburg, Inc. will implement the 'Youth Enhancement Skills Program (YES)' in four middle schools over two years. YES is a comprehensive program that utilizes several research-based exemplary program models including Life Skills Training (LST), Creating Independence through Student-owned Strategies (CRISS), and strategies identified through the Department of Education's, Early Warning Timely Response: A Guide to Safe Schools. YES is designed to function as a prevention and early intervention program to prevent youth from engaging in juvenile delinquent behaviors. This program is structured to enhance protective factors such as academic achievement, social responsibility, commitment and involvement in conventional activities, and improved skills in the decision-making process. The YES program will focus on two areas: 1)a science-based life skills training curriculum (drug resistance and refusal skills, personal and social skills) and 2)the use of a campus 'mediator' who will provide supervision to the schools when an incident of violence occurs. The YES program will include an outcome and process evaluation. They will use a quasi-experimental design where students selected for participation in the curriculum program each semester will be matched to one or more students not participating in the program using propensity scores. NCA/NCF