Great Transitions: Preparing Adolescents for a New Century

Chapter Six: Strengthening Communities with Adolescents

For most young adolescents, the feeling of belonging to a community that offers mutual aid and a sense of common purpose, whether it is found in their families, schools, neighborhoods, houses of worship, or youth organizations, has been compromised. Young people from all economic strata often find themselves alone in communities where there are few adults to turn to and hardly any safe places to go. Inadequate public transportation systems and American reliance on the private car limit the ability of many young adolescents to participate in clubs or other activities away from home or school. In some communities, the main place to meet others and socialize is the shopping mall; otherwise it is the city streets with their easy availability of guns, drugs, and other harmful influences.

Young people left on their own or only with peers have a significantly greater chance of becoming involved in high-risk behaviors than their counterparts involved in activities under responsible adult guidance. The task, then, is to turn the out-of-school hours into attractive, growth-promoting opportunities for all young people.

More than 17,000 youth-serving organizations now operate in the United States. They include such national groups as the Boy Scouts, 4-H Clubs, the YMCA and YWCA, and thousands of small, independent grassroots organizations. Many of them offer just what young adolescents say they want: safe havens where they can relax, be with their friends, and learn useful skills in the crucial after-school, weekend, and summer hours when neither schools nor parents are available to provide supervision and support. Such programs often offer adult mentoring, drop-in activities, and opportunities for community service, for learning about careers and the world of work, and for discovering places beyond the neighborhood. They help a young person build a sense of self-worth, get along in groups, make durable friendships, and generally prepare for lives as responsible, inquiring, and vigorous adults.

ELEMENTS OF EFFECTIVE YOUTH PROGRAMS
Based on its three-year study of youth development and community organizations, the Carnegie Council identified the characteristics of community programs that are responsive to the needs of young adolescents. These programs

• Are safe and accessible to all youths.
• Base their content and methods on a systematic assessment of community needs and existing services on knowledge of the attributes and interests of youth.
• Work with a variety of other community organizations and government agencies to extend their reach to the most vulnerable adolescents.
• Have staff who are knowledgeable about adolescent development and trained to work with young people.
• Regard young people as resources in planning and program development and involve them in meaningful roles.
• Reach out to families, schools, and other community partners to create a strong social support system for young adolescents.
• Have clear objectives and criteria for evaluation of success.
• Have strong advocates for and with youths to improve their opportunities to become well-educated and healthy.
• Have active, committed community leadership on their boards.

Although the central mission of these 17,000 organizations is to provide positive opportunities for youth, the Carnegie Council's report, A Matter of Time: Risk and Opportunity in the Nonschool Hours, concluded that they reach all too few of the young people who most need their support and guidance. Some 29 percent--approximately five-and-a-half million young adolescents--are not served by any of the existing youth organizations. Many programs operate only an hour or two a week, and a great many are operated by well-meaning adults who are not trained to deal with young adolescents.

Already penalized by economic disadvantage and the stresses of life in unsafe neighborhoods, young adolescents from families with very low incomes are the least likely to have access to enriching youth programs. Their future hangs in the balance. They require special help to stay in school, pursue their education in a determined way, and protect their health.

EXPANDING THE REACH OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS
For neighborhoods and communities to become better organized to provide a network of social support for vulnerable adolescents, the Carnegie Council recommends several key measures:

Develop Partnerships
Community organizations attempting to reach underserved areas and provide neglected youths with a powerful alternative to gangs and other negative influences should seek innovative partnerships with other community-based institutions, including schools. A priority is to strengthen their base of financial and in-kind support. Several federal agencies direct their funds toward the substance abuse and violence-prevention programs of youth organizations. For example, the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, a national federation of local clubs serving two million young people, in 1987 launched an ambitious initiative to expand their efforts in public housing projects. Today, with the ongoing support of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and several other federal agencies and private foundations, 270 clubs are located in housing projects nationwide and in Puerto Rico.

Make Youth Development a Mission of Other Community Organizations
The potential of youth organizations could be greatly enhanced with the involvement of adult service groups like the Rotary and Kiwanis clubs, religious organizations, minority organizations, sports leagues, arts programs, senior citizen groups, museums, and public-sector institutions such as libraries, parks, and recreation departments. National scientific organizations, such as the American Association for the Advancement of Science, are working with churches and other community groups to increase young people's interest and active involvement in the sciences. Additionally, through the Association of Science-Technology Centers, science and youth museums are training adolescents from low-income communities as docents and exhibition designers.

Recruit and Reward More Trained Staff
Adult leaders in community organizations often are available to young people at all hours of the day. They labor without adequate compensation, have limited benefits, and go unrecognized for their contributions. Yet they are society's frontline workers who breathe life into the programs. This is no less true of the many neighborhood residents and dedicated volunteers who often give generously of their time. If youth organizations are to expand wisely, they must have the full backing of the community, which should show appreciation of the services of the staffs while also demanding from them a high level of expertise and accountability.

ENCOURAGING SIGNS
Although out-of-school opportunities for youth in underserved areas have a long way to go, there are hopeful signs of change. The Carnegie Council's report, A Matter of Time, is now being used by urban parks, recreation groups, and theater and arts groups as well as national organizations to make the case for safer, more open, attractive spaces for youth, particularly in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty. In San Francisco, Chicago, and Denver, the report was the basis for communitywide initiatives to examine how youth-serving agencies in both the public and private sectors could better meet the needs of adolescents. And federal agencies included provision for more after-school programs in the Clinton administration's crime-prevention strategy.

Communities of color are trying to focus their institutions on the needs of youth. Some programs are based in churches, such as Project Spirit, an initiative of the Congress of National Black Churches; some are based in minority organizations, including the National Coalition of Hispanic Health and Human Service Organizations, the National Urban League, ASPIRA, and minority fraternities and sororities. Through efforts like these, thousands of young people have a positive alternative to despair and a life filled with violence. For them, the out-of-school hours are turning into the time of their lives.

Schools as Partners with Families and Communities

Schools can become partners with families and communities in order to strengthen and broaden their educational work. During the past fifteen years, states and communities have been developing programs to improve adolescents' access to health, social, and educational services in or near schools. Whether they are "full-service" schools or simply school-affiliated health centers, such programs represent a powerful attempt to address the scope of adolescents' needs. Some programs serve students' families as well. Drawing students and families into a variety of constructive activities, they can be especially helpful for students who are at risk of failing or dropping out.

Despite increased state and local funding, these efforts are still precarious. Without secure financing, they frequently face operational, managerial, and staffing problems. Many are remarkably successful, however. The Salome Ureèa Middle Academies in Washington Heights, New York, for example, grew out of a city school district's partnership with a nonprofit community center and now provides comprehensive services to adolescents and their families. The Hanshaw Middle School in Modesto, California, grew into a community center. Although each of these programs take different approaches, they share a common vision of community education.

SALOME Ureèa MIDDLE ACADEMIES

In a collaboration between the New York City school system and the Children's Aid Society, Salome Ureèa Middle Academies, or IS 218, have invited community organizations to provide school-based programming for 1,200 students and their families since 1992. The curriculum includes the entire school day--and beyond. During "zero period," for instance, students can eat breakfast together, dance, and participate in other recreational activities. During the after-school program, more than 500 students receive tutoring designed to maximize their academic and artistic strengths and interests.

The school's family resource center, open from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., is a valuable source of information and support for the community. Staffed by parents, social workers, and other volunteers, the center provides adult education, drug abuse prevention activities, and other forms of assistance. Because many of the neighborhood's families are of Dominican origin, the school offers an English-as-a-second-language program, in which four hundred parents are currently enrolled. They in turn volunteer to teach their native tongue to the precinct's police officers. Next door to the resource center is a clinic that provides medical care, dental care, and referrals to students. The clinic will soon include mental health services, which will be provided by a full-time psychologist and a part-time psychiatrist.

The Children's Aid Society, which operates the school, has been inundated with requests for tours of the school and for information and assistance in establishing similar schools elsewhere. It has hosted more than five hundred visitors, and requests for visits now average three per week. To respond to these requests, a technical assistance and information clearinghouse has been established at the school to facilitate partnerships in other communities by connecting interested schools with potential local or regional partners.

HANSHAW MIDDLE SCHOOL

"Always do your personal best" is the prominently displayed motto of this community school, where the emphasis is on individuality, flexibility, responsibility, and cooperation. Established in 1991, Hanshaw Middle School aims to meet the needs of the community as well as provide educational and social opportunities for the adolescents of California's Stanislaus County. Adjacent to a recreation center, the school itself serves as the neighborhood's community center. The six buildings on the school's campus house an auto shop, a home economics lab, a gymnasium and multipurpose auditorium, laboratories, arts and crafts rooms, and state-of-the-art music rehearsal rooms. The school's library is actually a branch of the local county system.

The school also is a resource center for its students' families. Parents can take classes in parenting or computers or study for their high school equivalency degrees. Hispanic parents can receive help communicating with the school's faculty and administrators. Also on site is a center for primary health and dental care. Established by the Healthy Start Support Services for Children Act of 1991, the center features a case management team and a referral service available to students and their families.

SOURCES

Dryfoos, J. G. (1994). Full-service schools: A revolution in health and social services for children, youth, and families. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

U.S. General Accounting Office. (1994). School-based health centers can expand access for children (GAO/HEHS-95-35). Washington, DC: Author.

U.S. General Accounting Office. (1993). School-linked human services: A comprehensive strategy for aiding students at risk of school failure (GAO/HRD-94-21). Washington, DC: Author.

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