Examples of sports-based youth development programs

The authors provide examples of sports-based youth development programs and offer information about program mission and vision, program design and content, evaluation results, and program sustainability. The four sports-based youth development programs presented are Harlem RBI, Tenacity, Snowsports Outreach Society, and Hoops & Leaders Basketball Camp. These programs serve diverse audiences with diverse missions, but all are focused on using sports to develop life skills and facilitate learning. Harlem RBI serves boys and girls ages seven to eighteen living in East Harlem. The program combines baseball, academic, and enrichment programs with the overall goal that participants who enter the program as vulnerable children graduate as resilient young adults. Tenacity, a nonprofit organization with headquarters in Boston, uses tennis to attract and retain students who particiate in a high-quality academic support and physical fitness program. The mission of Snowsports Outreach Society, based in Vail, Colorado, is building character in at-risk and underprivileged youth to develop their decision-making ability for healthy and successful life experiences. Hoops & Leaders Basketball Camp is a youth mentoring and leadership development program that offers summer camp experiences to improve the lives of at-risk urban youth in New York City. It uses the game of basketball to provide youth with caring mentors, develop leadership skills, and offer exposure to different educational and career paths.     

At-Risk Youth and Hope: Incorporating a Ropes Course Into a Summer Jobs Program

Hope is important in the career development of at-risk youth. A 1-day Ropes Course, designed to increase hope, was incorporated into a summer jobs program for this population. The Ropes Course used individual and group activities that challenged the participants to overcome obstacles and achieve predetermined goals. Program evaluation data, including the Hope Scale and a thought-listing activity, indicated that the participants experienced an increase in hope after the Ropes Course.     

Missing Measures of the Who and Why of School Dropouts: Implications for Policy and Research

Because of the relevance of high school education to later career development, counselors and other career development professionals are urged to take an activist role in school improvement. Following a review of the literature and other observations, five goals of a policy and research agenda are discussed: (1) to develop a commonly accepted definition of a dropout; (2) to improve methods of pupil accounting; (3) to separate the causes and identifiers of at-risk behavior; (4) to analyze the relevance of the questions asked about at-risk youth; and (5) to engage in institutional self-examination. Implications for counselors and counselor educators are presented.     

Broadening Career Horizons for Students in At-Risk Environments

Researchers and practitioners embarked on a collaborative venture to develop, implement, and evaluate a career intervention program for 7th grade students who were at-risk for vocational underachievement. Students participating in the Career Horizons Program demonstrated enhanced confidence in performing tasks related to investigating, selecting, and implementing a career choice. They also considered a greater number of careers and selected those that were congruent with their interests. No change was found in confidence regarding degree of self-knowledge. Suggestions are provided for improving on the development and evaluation of career exploration programs to enhance career self-efficacy and broaden the career horizons of students in at-risk environments.     

Support for career development in youth: program models and evaluations

This article examines four influential programs-Citizen Schools, After School Matters, career academies, and Job Corps-to demonstrate the diversity of approaches to career programming for youth. It compares the specific program models and draws from the evaluation literature to discuss strengths and weaknesses of each. The article highlights three key lessons derived from the models that have implications for career development initiatives more generally: (1) career programming can and should be designed for youth across a broad age range, (2) career programming does not have to come at the expense of academic training or preparation for college, and (3) program effectiveness depends on intentional design and high-quality implementation.     

A Career Development Program for Inner-City Black Youth

This article describes an innovative project designed to more effectively meet the career development needs of inner-city Black youth. The model for this project includes a multi-service approach that integrates many traditional vocational development services and community counseling strategies within a culturally sensitive program.     

Development of a Culturally Specific Career Exploration Group for Urban Chinese Immigrant Youth

A rapid increase in the number of Chinese immigrants and the specific challenges faced by low‐income Chinese immigrant youth attending urban schools warrant culturally sensitive school‐based interventions and services. However, research and services are limited for this population because of cultural biases in traditional career theories and the “model minority” myth suggesting that Asian students are excelling. The authors developed and implemented a culturally specific career exploration group for low‐income Chinese immigrant youth to address their career concerns with respect to multiple social and cultural factors and to provide social support. Implications for future program development and research are provided.     

Teens and technology: preparing for the future

In the past two decades, economic, technological, demographic, and political forces have stimulated major change in the learning and working landscape for young people. These circumstances compel us to prioritize the integration of technology skill building into youth development experiences in order to better prepare older youth for the challenges and responsibilities ahead. Facilitating older youth's acquisition of technology skills must continue to be a principal goal of policymakers, city leaders, and youth program providers. This chapter looks at the integration of technology skill building into youth development experiences with consideration of gender and races differences in technology access and utilization, along with challenges that at-risk teens face.     

Career Development Profiles and Interventions for Underrepresented College Students

The study interpreted scores from career development and role salience measures for 4 groups of underrepresented, at-risk college students to suggest potentially useful career interventions for each group. Each group's scores required a distinctive interpretation, and the 4 interpretations suggested some common and some distinctive interventions. Because the recommendations obtained from the career measures coincided with recommended interventions for underrepresented, at-risk students in the literature, the results support further study of the utility of career maturity measures with such populations.     

Mobility and Nunavut Inuit youth: lessons from Northern Youth Abroad

In this paper we examine the impacts of the mobility that Nunavut Inuit youth experience with Northern Youth Abroad (NYA), a Canadian volunteer travel program that sends northern youth to southern Canada and Botswana. Using a case study approach and drawing from archival research and interviews with 10 former participants, a staff member, and a member of the board of directors, we argue that NYA illustrates how volunteer travel programs for Indigenous youth can yield distinct benefits for its participants in comparison to mainstream volunteer travel programs, particularly with regard to participants' sense of cultural identity and pride. By enabling participants to foster career goals and a deeper sense of cultural pride, NYA presents a counter-example to some of the common critiques of volunteer tourism programs, and illustrates the complex interconnections between cultural pride, well-being, and career advancement for Nunavut Inuit youth.     

How Runaway and Homeless Youth Navigate Troubled Waters: Personal Strengths and Resources

Little attention has been paid to how runaway or homeless adolescents are able to make successful transitions into adulthood. This article reports on partial findings from an exploratory study of the research question, “How do formerly runaway and homeless adolescents navigate the troubled waters of leaving home, living in high-risk environments, and engaging in dangerous behaviors, to make successful developmental transitions into young adulthood?” This qualitative study involved interviews with 12 formerly runaway or homeless youth. Data were analyzed using the constant comparative method. This paper reports on findings related to the personal strengths and resources that enabled youth to make successful transitions: learning new attitudes and behaviors, personal attributes, and spirituality. Recommendations for program development and intervention with homeless or at-risk youth are discussed.     

Rural High School Youth's Access to and Use of School‐to‐Work Programs

Rural youth face numerous barriers that may limit career exposure. School‐to‐work (STW) programs are one tool used to increase exposure and facilitate connections between school and work. Using a nationally representative data set, the authors investigated whether rurality relates to the availability of STW programs and rural youth's program use. Results indicate that most schools provide school‐based services (e.g., career plans/career majors), but few schools offer work‐based services (e.g., internships). Rural schools were more likely to offer vocational–technical prep programs and job shadowing but were less likely to offer school‐based enterprise. After controlling for program availability, the authors found that rural students were less likely to take part in job shadowing and community service. Conclusions are offered for career development research, policy, and practice.     

A Qualitative Evaluation of a Mentor Program for At-Risk Youth: The Participants' Perspective

This article presents a qualitative evaluation of the first year of a mentor program for at-risk high school youth in a low income urban setting with high rates of youth and violent crime. Pre and posttest data were collected employing a standardized set of open-ended questions regarding the program and the mentees' relationships with their mentors. Overall there appears to be congruence between the mentees' expectations at pretest and posttest outcomes. Most were overwhelmingly positive about the program, developed a valued relationship with their mentors, and secured concrete benefits as well (e.g., employment and greater academic achievement). Two mentors who had a leadership role were also interviewed. Case studies of four of the adolescents are presented along with implications for practice.     

The Impact of Neighborhood Factors on Mental Health and Academic Outcomes for Adolescents Participating in the Prodigy Program

The Prodigy Cultural Arts program provides art classes embedded with three types of self-regulation skills (problem solving, social skills, and anger management) in an after school community setting to at-risk youths. Empirical evidence supports the effectiveness of self-regulation skills programs and the arts in programs for at-risk youths, yet the impact of the environment on the youth participants is often ignored. This study examines neighborhood structural characteristics along with previously identified individual, mental health variables in school outcomes for adolescents attending the Prodigy Program. Findings suggest that neighborhood structural characteristics have some influence in program outcomes. Limitations of the study and future research are discussed.     

The Relationship Between Israeli Youth Participation in Physical Activity Programs and Antisocial Behavior

Many intervention programs, including physical activity programs, have been developed to deal with youth involvement in delinquency. The current study explored whether youth participation in sport and physical activity programs reduces their involvement in delinquent behaviors. It examined the interaction effects of the features of the sports program with participation in the sports program. The sample consisted of 126 Israeli adolescents aged 13–18 (M?=?15.68, SD?=?1.32) who completed questionnaires about involvement in delinquency at the beginning of their sports program and again 6 months later. We found significant reductions in adolescents’ involvement in all the delinquent acts explored: crimes against a person; crimes against property, and public disorder crimes. However, no interaction effects were found between program features (sport type; program intensity; training and supervision in the program; and interaction with community services) and participation in the sports program. The findings highlight the importance of including sports programs in the interventions provided for at-risk youth and call for further investigation of the factors that may increase the benefits provided by participation in physical activity programs.     

The Relationship Between Attitudinal and Behavioral Aspects of Career Maturity

The construct of career maturity has played a prominent role in career development theory. To have practical significance, however, career counselors should know that career maturity is linked to actual career-related behaviors. Toward this end, the current study investigated whether a meaningful relationship existed between an attitudinal measure of career maturity and a measure of career maturity reflecting job performance-related behavioral competencies in a sample of minority youth. Only modest relationships were found between several career maturity attitudes and the behavioral measures. Results are discussed and implications for career counselors working with minority adolescents are provided.     

Planning a mentorship initiative for foster parents: Does gender matter?

Despite the use of mentoring programs in fields such as business, career training, and youth development, little is known about how mentoring can be used to train and support new foster parents. This paper describes how Concept Mapping was used with current foster parents to develop a conceptual framework suitable to plan a foster parent mentor program. A secondary aim of this study was to explore priority differences in the conceptualization by self-reported gender (foster mothers vs. foster fathers). Participant data was collected via three qualitative brainstorming sessions, and analyzed using non-metric multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analysis. Findings indicate that foster parents participating in this study conceptualized effective mentor programs via a seven cluster solution. Study results also showed no significant differences in cluster ratings by gender. Implications for practice and program planning are identified, as well as areas for future research.     

Using the Constructs Multifinality,Work Hope,and Possible Selves With Urban Minority Youth

This article describes and highlights the potential contributions that the constructs multifinality, work hope, and possible selves make for designing career counseling interventions and for better understanding possible career‐related factors associated with academic engagement and achievement among urban minority youth. Multifinality may serve as a superordinate orientation because it conceptualizes development as discontinuous and relatively plastic, allowing for youth deemed at risk to follow more hopeful pathways. Work hope and possible selves emphasize the utility of providing urban minority youth with space to answer questions related to what they might achieve and do in the future and who they might become. Together, multifinality, work hope, and possible selves provide a hopeful conceptual framework for career researchers and practitioners.     

Recruitment and retention strategies for out-of-school-time programs

Many out-of-school-time (OST) practitioners seek ways to maximize enrollment, enhance frequency of participation, and ensure retention in OST programs, so that the multiple potential benefits of these programs are realized. Three critical areas of program quality are important underpinnings for success in recruitment and retention of youth in OST programs: a sense of safety and community; committed program staff; and challenging, age-appropriate, and fun activities. In addition, a review of over sixty OST evaluations reveals five promising recruitment strategies to boost enrollment: (1) matching the program to participants' needs (offering activities not readily available elsewhere or offering flexible schedules), (2) demonstrating the importance of participation to young people and their families, (3) reaching out directly to youth and their families in their homes and communities, (4) recruiting in peer circles, and (5) making a special effort to recruit at-risk youth. Finally, the evaluation literature points to five promising strategies to enhance regular participation and longterm program retention: (1) sending a clear message that regular attendance is important; (2) setting realistic goals to promote regular attendance, especially as youth grow older; (3) finding a balance among academic and other activities; (4) using incentives; and (5) keeping teens involved with opportunities for leadership, community service, and paid employment.     

Career Maturity Determinants: Individual Development,Social Context,and Historical Time

Two samples of 16- to 19-year-old adolescents from different contexts were compared. Whereas young East Germans had experienced an educational system that offered relatively little choice, West Germans had experienced more leeway. In 1991, youth from East Germany reported more career maturity than did same-aged adolescents from the West. Different variables predicted career maturity in the 2 groups. Whereas person-related variables predicted career maturity in both groups, family and peer contexts were relevant only among the West German youth. In 1996, when differences in social context had greatly diminished, these differences had disappeared. Results confirm the usefulness of a cross-cultural and contextual approach to career development.