Youth Empowerment Demonstration (9/06-8/09)

A completed project that yielded exceptional results is the Youth Empowerment Demonstration Project (YED). The Office of Minority Health funded the project, and NWFS received a sub-award through the University of Oregon to be the service provider.

This program provided intensive positive youth development for middle school Latino (a) students after school, in addition to summer programs and parent education programs. University of Oregon researchers partnered with Northwest Family Services to provide technical assistance, training, and evaluation for the project. The project included college aged mentors and a service learning project. The YED objectives were to encourage healthy behaviors, to provide academic and cultural enrichment and career awareness, and to promote healthy choices.

YED served Latino (a) students who were currently in middle school. Due to the nature of this program, students were required to maintain regular attendance at YED activities twice a week during the school year, to attend a three-week Summer Program, and be identified by school staff as individuals who demonstrate motivation for personal growth. Parent training courses and family activities were available for the families of the students involved.

This program was a three year project and NWFS witnessed great achievements made by the students and their parents. Check out our Picture album!

Participating students were from three schools:

• George Middle School
• H.B. Lee Middle School
• Ron Russell Middle School

Read our evaluation summary presented at the June 2009 National Research and Training Center conference focusing on building family strengths (http://www.rtc.pdx.edu/index.php).

City of Portland Youth Referral Pilot Program (Starting mid April 2009 and ending in July 2009)

The Youth Referral Pilot Program was established to provide greater service to the requested needs of Portland’s at-risk youth and their families. The Portland Police Bureau in coordination with the City of Portland Office of Youth Violence Prevention (OYVP) provided the referral request for contacted youth (age 25 and below) living in the City of Portland to public or private non-profit service organizations. The goal of the referral program was to link at-risk youth with services, and, secondarily, to measure service capacity verses the requested need for services. The City of Portland Office of Youth Violence Prevention recognized that Police Bureau employees had contact with youth on a daily basis and part of their mission was to provide prevention and intervention information. This pilot program allowed officers who had contact with at-risk youth to refer them to the Office of Youth Violence Prevention for a referral to an appropriate service agency or organization.