NCJ Number
207332
Date Published
2003
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This chapter addresses guidelines in the establishment of a continuum of services to meet the developmentally appropriate needs of youth, specifically at-risk youth through community collaboration and partnerships.
Abstract
Communities today must build a permanent network of developmentally appropriate services for youth. In addition, there must be a continuum of these services in order to provide a pyramid of programming as a child develops and as the need for focused attention arises. This developmental continuum of services is designed to target limited services at appropriate stages of child development to avoid the escalation of difficulties youth may experience. In this chapter, establishing a developmental continuum as a new construct by which to redefine community advocacy and activism is discussed. In providing this developmental continuum there are specific issues that must be considered and include: policy, partnerships sector, funding, leadership, and evaluation measures. In building a model program processes are suggested for how to make better decisions to commit to an idea and how to enhance chances of success once committed. The continuum of services for at-risk youth is built one step at a time and evolves over time. It is important that the community build the organizational capacity to support a network, a sequence of projects. Establishing this continuum of services entails collaboration and partnerships based on a local infrastructure, performance-based measures, and a developmentally appropriate continuum of services.