NCJ Number
216860
Journal
Community Youth Development Journal Dated: Fall 2005 Pages: 39-52
Date Published
2005
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This article describes and presents evaluation results for Project BRAVE (“Building and Revitalizing an Anti-Violence Environment”), a youth violence prevention intervention program in New Orleans, LA.
Abstract
Evaluation results indicated that Project BRAVE had a positive impact on the students involved in the program in terms of violence reduction, self-perception, and relationships with teachers. Specifically, evaluators examined outcomes in four areas: classroom attendance, social support among youth and teachers, youth self-perceptions as agents of change, and avoidance of violent behavior. Data indicated that classroom attendance often exceeded the number of students who were actually enrolled in the school-based program and that social support among students and teachers increased during the semester that Project BRAVE operated. Student participants in the program reported changes in their self-perception in terms of their ability to motivate change in their communities. Additionally, several of the students reported avoiding violent behavior due to their participation in Project BRAVE. Lessons learned, challenges, and facilitating factors to Project BRAVE’s success are enumerated. Factors that impacted the students' success included their focus on building on the pre-existing relationships among residents, community-based organizations, and the school as well as the methods they employed, which emphasized story circles and community organizing. Evaluation methodology included the use of participant observation of Project BRAVE meetings and group interviews with student participants following the completion of the semester. Data were analyzed according to the focus-coding method, which categorizes transcript segments into predetermined themes of interest. Future plans for Project BRAVE include replication in the school with an added community component that will support community-based solutions to youth violence. References, endnotes