NCJ Number
100513
Journal
New Designs for Youth Development Volume: 6 Issue: 4 Dated: (May-June 1985) Pages: 22-28
Date Published
1985
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This article describes Virginia's statewide juvenile delinquency prevention program and reports on a 1984 impact evaluation of the program.
Abstract
The program's goal is to encourage positive youth development as the means of preventing delinquency. Youth Services Boards established in participating communities are composed of volunteer adults and youth. A paid staff assists in the work. The board is recognized by local elected officials as their coordinating, planning, and oversight body for youth services in the community. The board develops a youth services delivery system, improves the planning for community youth services, and organizes the community to create conditions to promote positive youth development. Program funding comes from the legislature through the Department of Corrections. Standards have been developed to make the boards accountable for their use of State funds without depriving boards of their flexibility to act according to their local needs. The 1984 impact evaluation compared participating communites with matched nonparticipating communities in the ares of juvenile crime rates, teenage pregnancies, and school dropouts. In every area, the program communities were more effective in reducing problem juvenile behavior than were the control communities. 9 references.