The Leadership Program’s Violence Prevention Project: Infusing the Arts into Conflict Resolution

While the demand for youth violence prevention programs increases, the ability of the traditional school day schedule to accommodate violence prevention program time requirements has diminished. School reforms, such as No Child Left Behind, have pressed schools to focus more tightly on academics, often to the exclusion of subjects such as physical education and the arts. Viable violence prevention programs must offer components that supplement classroom curriculum as well as reduce violence and strike a balance between brevity and effectiveness. The Leadership Program’s (TLP) universal Violence Prevention Project (VPP) meets this call with a conflict resolution model for students in urban schools. The curriculum is based on a conceptual framework derived from prevention science and positive youth development delivered through the vehicle of the arts. Utilizing an engaging hybrid prevention program, this high quality 12 session model melds fidelity and adaptation to yield effective evaluation outcomes

Promoting Community-Based Affirmation for Diverse LGBTQ+ Youth

Growing evidence shows that offering affirmation to LGBTQ+ youth is critical to their well-being; yet, strategies providing affirmation at the community level of youth ecologies are woefully under-addressed in the literature. The studies in this dissertation help fill this gap, examining affirmation: a) in community-based programs, b) from people and communities, and c) in program evaluations. Paper One focuses on LGBTQ+ culturally competent service in community-based youth programs (CBYPs). An exploratory factor analysis uncovered the dimensions of such competency in a 3-factor model: Individual Knowledge, Individual Comfort and Practice, and Perceptions of Overall Agency Comfort and Practice. A new retrospective pretest posttest instrument was developed and tested to evaluate a cultural competency workshop. Paired samples t-tests revealed participant increases in knowledge and comfort serving diverse LGBTQ+ youth, and ratings of agency practices creating affirming environments. Paper Two examined sources and density of interpersonal supports (friends, family, caring adults), and contextual support (communities) for LGBTQ+ youth of color. Strongest support came from friends and parents/guardians, then siblings and adults in the community. For youth with more marginalized identities, other sources of support were more prominent after friends and parents/guardians; various patterns are discussed. Youth connected to different identities/expressions had varied likelihoods of accessing sources of interpersonal support and community support. Paper Three offered methodological considerations for evaluators in LGBTQ+-focused CBYPs through evaluation planning, implementation/data management and analysis. Culturally competent evaluation affirms programs and participants, reduces inadvertent harm and promotes more methodologically sound, contextually appropriate work

The Leadership Program’s Violence Prevention Project: Infusing the Arts into Conflict Resolution

While the demand for youth violence prevention programs increases, the ability of the traditional school day schedule to accommodate violence prevention program time requirements has diminished. School reforms, such as No Child Left Behind, have pressed schools to focus more tightly on academics, often to the exclusion of subjects such as physical education and the arts. Viable violence prevention programs must offer components that supplement classroom curriculum as well as reduce violence and strike a balance between brevity and effectiveness. The Leadership Program’s (TLP) universal Violence Prevention Project (VPP) meets this call with a conflict resolution model for students in urban schools. The curriculum is based on a conceptual framework derived from prevention science and positive youth development delivered through the vehicle of the arts. Utilizing an engaging hybrid prevention program, this high quality 12 session model melds fidelity and adaptation to yield effective evaluation outcomes

Intentional Self Regulation and Positive Youth Development: Implications for Youth Development Programs

Character education programs are mission-aligned with the positive youth development (PYD) perspective, which, in research with American youth suggests that intentional self-regulation (ISR) develops through mutually beneficial interactions between youth and their environment. Cross-cultural studies of Western youth suggest an adolescence-specific ISR process may exist. We begin to extend this work to assess the relationship between ISR and positive development in young Scottish adolescents (approximately 7th grade, N = 82; 50% male), a previously unexamined group. ISR was correlated with the Five Cs of PYD and OLS regression analyses demonstrated that ISR predicted two of the Five Cs: Character and Connection. We discuss implications for youth development programs of the findings that ISR and some indices of PYD were linked in a sample of Scottish youth

Urban Conflict Resolution: An Evidence-Based Approach

As demand for youth violence prevention programs escalates, time within traditional school day schedules and budgets are increasingly unable to accommodate them. Short, effective programs respectful of financial constraints will ensure that students in need receive quality programming. The Leadership Program’s Violence Prevention Project’s (VPP) 12 session school-based preventive intervention targets urban middle (6-8 grades) and high school (9-10th grades) students. It reduces violence by increasing peer support, improving conflict resolution skills, and changing norms about using aggression and violence. Rated a promising model program by OJJDP, VPP uses engaging activities within core components to make change. Activities used and tools for maintaining quality is described

Promoting Healthy Development among Adolescent Girls: A Mixed-Methods Evaluation of the HERstory Program

The Leadership Program’s HERstory is a school-based, universal, preventative intervention designed to promote healthy youth development among adolescent girls by increasing their connections to pro-social peers and to school and community while developing social-emotional skills that serve as protective factors. In this school-year-long program, a facilitator implements three program phases: group development activities in Community Building, self-reflective Writing Workshop exercises, and a final Creative Output project, an ethnographic theater production or literary journal developed from participants’ Writing Workshop responses. The current mixed-methods study presents early evidence of program effectiveness based on focus groups and school record data review at two NYC public schools during the 2010-2011 school year. Participants reported improvements in key areas targeted by HERstory, including peer connectedness, academic achievement, and a range of protective factors including future orientation and goal setting. Results suggest this program approach may be suitable promoting healthy adolescent development for girls

Promoting Healthy Development among Adolescent Girls: A Mixed-Methods Evaluation of the HERstory Program

The Leadership Program’s HERstory is a school-based, universal, preventative intervention designed to promote healthy youth development among adolescent girls by increasing their connections to pro-social peers and to school and community while developing social-emotional skills that serve as protective factors. In this school-year-long program, a facilitator implements three program phases: group development activities in Community Building, self-reflective Writing Workshop exercises, and a final Creative Output project, an ethnographic theater production or literary journal developed from participants’ Writing Workshop responses. The current mixed-methods study presents early evidence of program effectiveness based on focus groups and school record data review at two NYC public schools during the 2010-2011 school year. Participants reported improvements in key areas targeted by HERstory, including peer connectedness, academic achievement, and a range of protective factors including future orientation and goal setting. Results suggest this program approach may be suitable promoting healthy adolescent development for girls

The Co-Evolution of Marriage and Parental Rights of Gays and Lesbians

Historically, federal and state legislation placed different conditions on same- and opposite-sex couples\u27 ability to marry, adopt, or exercise their parental rights. Given the historical intertwining of marriage and parenting, legal issues remain hinged on differing conceptions of marriage and what constitutes a legal family in the United States, especially for same-sex partners compared to their different-sexed couple counterparts. This article provides a historical review of decisions that serve as the foundation for queer parenting rights in the United States. A key focus is on the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) marriage decision on queer parenting and its relevance to researchers and practitioners whose work involves queer families. State discrepancies continue to exist for the treatment of parental rights in spite of the legalization of same-sex marriage. Finally, suggestions are provided for future directions for the field

Developing the next generation of engaged youth: Inspire Aspire – Global Citizens in the Making

School-based character education (CE) programs provide an opportunity to increase the moral fortitude of adolescents. This study is a preliminary evaluation of Inspire Aspire, a CE program that was implemented with 13- to 14-year-olds in Scotland. A relational developmental systems meta-theoretical approach and person-centered analyses were employed to understand whether teacher implementation variability is associated with student outcomes. The study aimed to: assess variation in program implementation across teachers; assess student poster quality, which served as a youth outcome measure; and, assess the relationship between variations in program implementation and poster quality. Teachers who fully integrated Inspire Aspire with the broader curriculum (as opposed to using it as a standalone program) as well as teachers who made more modifications to Inspire Aspire tended to have students with higher quality posters. This finding stands in contrast to the common narrative regarding evidence-based programs that requires teachers to strictly adhere to program guidelines in order to maintain implementation fidelity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR