Note: This site is for reviewing legacy plan of work data from 2007-2011. If you are looking for the current plan of work interface, visit pow.nmsu.edu.

Youth Development (Bernalillo County)

Plan Goal

To strengthen the capacity of at-risk youth through positive youth development activities in order that they may have the skills to contribute to improving the quality of life in their communities as well as enhance their leadership and other life skills.

Situation Statement

Research shows that youth who are engaged in positive youth development (PYD) programs are less likely to revisit the legal system, and more likely to achieve academic success and become contributing members of their community. PYD programs are a cost-effective solution to the challenge of youth at risk.

Positive youth development programs are powerful crime prevention tools. They offer safe, engaging and constructive environments for young people who lack adult supervision during nonschool hours, a time when they are most vulnerable to community violence and gang recruitment. Juvenile justice programs, including probation and detention, may be the only options for some youth who are a danger to their community. But the more than 4,000,000 under-served youth growing up in severely distressed neighborhoods surrounded by brutality, violence and despair deserve a chance to engage in positive, constructive activities that have been proven effective in deterring delinquent behavior.

According to early findings of researchers, participants in PYD programs exhibit the following improvements:

Skills
• Increased ability to express anger appropriately, to communicate effectively with adults and their peers and to cooperate with others, among other interpersonal skills.
• Increased ability to work on tasks from start to finish, which is vital for both academic and vocational success.

Attitudes & Behavior
• More likely to report decreased frequency of delinquent behavior than their nonparticipating peers.
• More likely to show improvements in their attitudes toward school, self-esteem and self-efficacy than are nonparticipating youth.

Court Involvement
• Fewer new court referrals during the program period compared with nonparticipating youth.
• New offenses committed during the program period tended to be less severe than those committed prior to the program.

Target Audience and Actions

Target Audience:

All under-served youth, ages 5-19, who are not currently served by 4-H and/or affected by limited resources such as income, transportation, employment or educational service.

Bernalillo County Urban 4-H will do the following to increase participation:


• Increase opportunities for developing youths creativity using hands-on activities in afterschool programs, community centers, schools, and churches.
• Introduce youth to career paths in a variety of fields
• Enhance social psychological development (self-esteem, ego development, self-efficacy, social skills)through hands-on learning an opportunities for mastery
• Provide entrepreneurship opportunities for youth to learn the business aspects of art, technology, and agriculture

Short-Term Objectives

Medium-Term Objectives

Long-Term Objectives

Evaluation Plan

In order to know if the Urban 4-H program is meeting the identified goals and is making an impact in the participant’s life, evaluation of the following will be conducted:
(1) program quality
(2) program attendance and participation rates
(3) skills learned and
(4) behavior change.