Good practice: Community-based interventions and services.

Abstract

tion for the chapter was developed through a special symposium held in New York City and attended by the directors of adolescent programs that are thought to be particularly successful in turning around the lives of young people who are caught in a web of failure. The panel also heard from a number of adolescents served by the programs. This chapter summarizes what was learned at the symposium as well as through our review of the growing literature on this subject.There are numerous examples of locally designed and operated programs through which communities are beginning to address the risks that face many of America's adolescents. Many local efforts aim at supporting families and strengthening communities. The commonality among such efforts is that they seek to enable and empower parents and community residents to increase their capabilities to nurture young people. Communities have also implemented a range of innovative initiatives in response to the risks that often arise from service systems themselves. The innovative strategies, and the experiences of the local practitioners that created them, may provide models for national programs and policies in the years ahead. They certainly offer a rich lode of examples that should be drawn upon by primary systems as they evolve in response to current needs. All of the examples of "good practice" exhibit a number of common characteristics. First and foremost, their services for adolescents are comprehensive: the programs transcend categorical labels, organizations, and funding sources to bring together a coherent package of service to young people. Whether programs are offered in a single site or through interagency collaboration, the goal is to provide services that ensure that the emotional, recreational, academic, and vocational needs of adolescents are explicitly addressed. Comprehensiveness also means that these programs provide adolescents from highrisk settings with the developmental opportunities that are too often missing in their lives.This chapter describes innovative programs in three broad categories: ( 1) strengthening families and communities; (2) improving institutional services; and ( 3 ) comprehensive service for adolescent development. We use the label "good practice" to identify those programs and interventions that have strong research and theoretical justification. Such judgments should also be supported by evaluation research, but few of the programs have been rigorously evaluated. In other cases, new evaluation methodologies must be developed that adequately assess the quality and out-Copyright American Psychological Association. Not for further distribution. Community-Based Interventions and Services 195 comes of multipurpose programs or comprehensive service systems (see Chapter 11). STRENGTHENING FAMILIES AND NEIGHBORHOODSAssisting adolescents requires attention to the settings-families and neighborhoods-that they experience on a daily basis. In good practice initiatives, community residents-both adults and, increasingly, adolescents-are vi...