Boys and Girls Club of America

¶ … Boys and Girls Clubs of America as a Resource to Aid in the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency

Boys and Girls Clubs of America

This research describes the tremendous need for nonprofit human services organizations by youth who: use drugs, commit crimes or are victims of crime, drop out of high school, and become pregnant at an early age. There are a variety of nonprofit organizations such as Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Big Brothers Big Sisters and Children's Aid Society that step in to try to compensate for a breakdown in modern social infrastructures. This paper summarized how each makes their own unique contributions and describes in detail the many successes of programs offered by the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, proven by formalized studies. Because human services have made such a difference in the lives of children, recommendations include additional outreach and increased funding for their activities.

Table of Contents

Introduction to Problems Facing Juveniles in Society

41.1 Drugs

51.2 Crime

61.3 Victimization

71.4 Lack of Education

81.5 Teen Pregnancy

102.0 Programs to Combat Juvenile Problems in Society

102.1 Boys and Girls Clubs of America

112.2 Big Brothers Big Sisters

122.3 Children's Aid Society

143.0 Success of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America

153.1 Southwest Program Study

173.3 Project Connect Program Study

183.4 SMART Moves Drug Prevention Study

203.5 Stay SMART Sexual Activity Study

213.6 Family Advocacy Network (FAN Club) Study

233.7 Everyday Participation Studies

254.0 Issues and Recommendations

254.1 Additional Re-search

264.2 Targeted Outreach

274.3 Adequate Funding

1.0 Introduction to Problems Facing Juveniles in Society

Youth raised in the 1950s and 1960s had most of those needs readily met; families, neighbors, and schools supplied their basic needs while providing a sense of security, trust, belonging, and, to some extent, self-esteem. But, today factors such as the disintegration of families, loss of cohesiveness in neighborhoods (even in the well-to-do suburbs), and atrophy of the public schools has caused this paradigm to collapse.

The resulting problems have been tremendous. According to the United States census, one third of all school age children in the United States go home to an empty house or apartment. The total number may be between five and seven million children between five and thirteen years old, often referred to as "latch key" children.

Increase in drug use, participation crime, prevalent victimization, failure to complete high school and pregnancies are just a few of the side effects of the breakdown in traditional social structures as discussed in this introductory section.

1.1 Drugs

Results from the 2003 National Survey on Drug Use & Health funded by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the Office of Applied Studies reveal that 11.2% of youths aged twelve to seventeen used illicit drugs. The rate of marijuana use among youths was 7.9%. Among youths aged twelve to seventeen, an estimated 17.7% used alcohol in the month prior to the survey interview. Of these, 10.6% were binge drinkers, and 2.6% were heavy drinkers. Further, an estimated 3.6 million youths aged twelve to seventeen, 14.4%, reported past month use of a tobacco product in 2003.

Substance abuse by young people can result in health-related problems such as mental health) or death, academic difficulties, risky behaviors, poor peer relationships, and involvement with the juvenile justice system. And, early drug use indicates significant future problems. The 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that adults who had first used substances at a younger age were more likely to be classified with dependence or abuse than adults who initiated use at a later age. For example, among adults aged eighteen or older who first tried marijuana at age fourteen or younger, 13.3% were classified with illicit drug dependence or abuse compared with only 2.2% of adults who had first used marijuana at age eighteen or older.

1.2 Crime

Juvenile crime in the United States has fallen dramatically in recent years, but is still a significant problem. In 2002, law enforcement agencies in the United States made approximately 2.3 million arrests of persons under age eighteen. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, juveniles accounted for seventeen percent of all arrests and fifteen percent of all violent crime arrests (murder, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault) in 2002. Around one in every 360 persons aged ten through seventeen was arrested for a violent crime. In 2002, juveniles were involved in one in ten arrests for murder, one in eight arrests for a drug abuse violation, one in five arrests for a weapons violation, and one in four arrests for robbery. Arrests per 100,000 juveniles for property crimes (burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson) in 2002 was 1,500.

The rate for juvenile crime peaks in the after-school hours. About ten percent of violent juvenile crimes are committed between 3p.m. And 4 p.m. Children are also at a much greater risk of being the victim of a violent crime after the school day, roughly 2 p.m. To 6 p.m. A major part of the problem is that more than twenty-eight million school-age children have parents who work outside the home. As many as fifteen children return to an empty home after school.

1.3 Victimization

It's important to remember that juveniles not only cause crimes, they are also victims as well. The following alarming statistics reveal why safety is such a huge issue for juveniles.

In 2001, there were 1617 homicides in the United States in the population of youth between the ages of thirteen and nineteen. Two hundred and sixty-three juvenile females were murdered and 1352 juvenile males were murdered.

According to the National Crime Victimization Survey, youth between the ages of twelve and nineteen experienced over 1,798,010 non-fatal violent victimizations in 2001, rates which are significantly higher than any other age group.

Seven percent of all suicide victims in 1996 were nineteen or younger.

Among youths between the ages of twelve and nineteen, there were an estimated 82,440 rapes and sexual assaults in 2001; an estimated 187,020 robberies, an estimated 339,180 aggravated assaults; an estimated 1,189,020 simple assaults, and an estimated 56,040 thefts.

Almost seventy percent of female youth in the juvenile justice system have histories of physical abuse compared to twenty percent of juvenile females in the general population.

The odds of being a victim of domestic violence as an adult are increased by a factor of 1.7 by being an adolescent victim of a violent crime. The odds of being a perpetrator of domestic violence as an adult are increased by a factor of 1.7 by being a victim of violent crime in adolescence and doubled by being a perpetrator of violent crime in adolescence.

Sixty-five percent of the offenders incarcerated in state correctional facilities for crimes against juveniles in 1997 were sex offenders.

Active youth gangs are present in 100% of the nation's largest cities; forty-seven percent of metropolitan areas with large suburbs; twenty-seven percent of the small cities, and eighteen percent of the rural counties.

1.4 Lack of Education

In 2002, eleven percent of young people aged sixteen to twenty four in the civilian, non-institutionalized population were not enrolled in and had not completed high school. Because a high school is required for accessing post-secondary education and is a minimum requirement for most jobs, drop outs are not likely to have the minimum skills and credentials necessary to function in today's increasingly complex society and technological workplace. The results are that high school dropouts are more likely than high school completers to be unemployed and to achieve lower incomes higher occupational status. Studies have found that young adults with low education and skill levels are more likely to live in poverty and to receive government assistance. High school dropouts are likely to stay on public assistance longer than those with at least a high school degree. And, high school dropouts are more likely to become involved in crime.

1.5 Teen Pregnancy

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), between 1990 and 2002 almost 137,000 of young mothers aged ten to fourteen delivered a live birth. About two-fifths of the pregnancies among the ten to fourteen-year-olds in 2000 ended in a live birth, two-fifths ended in induced abortion, and about one in six ended in a fetal loss. Birth rates to these young mothers in 2000-2002 ranged from the national low of 0.2 per thousand in Maine to a high of two per thousand in Mississippi and the District of Columbia.

Births to very young mothers are associated with increased health risks to the mother. CDC documents that these mothers:

Had the lowest levels of timely prenatal care (47.1%) in the first trimester, in contrast to the overall rate of 83.3%.

Were more likely to receive late or no prenatal care (16.1%) as compared to an overall rate of 3.8%.

Were at a higher risk for pregnancy-associated hypertension (5.3%) and eclampsia (0.7%). Their rate of pregnancy-associated hypertension was over forty percent higher than that experienced by all mothers (3.7%) and their rate of eclampsia was over twice as high as the overall rate (0.3%).

The CDC also documents that infants of mothers aged ten through fourteen:

Were more likely to be born preterm -- before thirty-seven weeks gestation -- (21.3%) than the overall rate of 10.3% and their rate was thirty-three percent higher than the rate for infants of mothers aged forty five and older (sixteen percent), the next highest risk group.

Were more likely to be born very preterm -- before thirty-two weeks gestation -- (5.3%), a rate more than triple the overall rate of 1.6% and over twice the rate experienced by mothers aged forty five and older (2.6%).

Were more likely to be born with low birth weight. Their rate of low birth weight for single births (12.6%) was the highest for any age group. It was more than twice the overall rate of 6.1% and twenty-seven percent higher than the rate for mothers aged forty five and older (9.9%).

Were more than three times as likely to die during their first year (15.4 per 1000) than the overall rate of 6.1 per 1000 and at a rate that was two to three times higher than that for infants of mothers aged twenty to forty four years.

2.0 Programs to Combat Juvenile Problems in Society

"During these all important bridge years between childhood and adulthood, kids really do need something constructive to do, and they also still need to have their activities supervised. Most of all, they need to know that their parents care about them, are involved in their lives, and have their best interests at heart."

Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Big Brothers Big Sisters and Children's Aid Society are organizations that each offer their own unique contribution to help juveniles have the opportunity to enjoy an easier transition from childhood to adulthood.

2.1 Boys and Girls Clubs of America

Boys and Girls Clubs of America is a Federally chartered, national organization that comprises a network of more than 3,300 neighborhood-based facilities annually serving some 3.6 million young people, primarily from disadvantaged circumstances. Known as "The Positive Place for Kids," Clubs provide guidance-oriented programs on a daily basis for children six to eighteen years old, conducted by a full-time professional staff. Key programs emphasize character and leadership development, education and career development, health and life skills, the arts, and sports, fitness and recreation. National headquarters is located in Atlanta, Georgia.

Boys and Girls Clubs of America had its beginnings in 1860 with several women in Hartford, Connecticut go together to give boys roaming the street a more positive alternative. In 1906, several Boys Clubs decided to affiliate. The Federated Boys Clubs in Boston was formed with fifty-three member organizations. Later, on 1931, the Boys Club Federation of America became Boys Clubs of America. In 1956, Boys Clubs of America received a United States Congressional Charter. To recognize the fact that girls had become a part of our cause, the national organization's name was changed to Boys and Girls Clubs of America in 1990.

The Boys and Girls Club provides support to young people that is significant but different from what they get elsewhere -- at home, in school, in church, in other private agencies or in public recreation. Trained youth development staff helps boys and girls make appropriate choices in their physical, educational, personal, social, emotional, vocational and spiritual lives. Most importantly, the Boys and Girls Club shows youngsters that someone cares and wants them to realize their full potential as productive, responsible and caring citizens.

2.2 Big Brothers Big Sisters

Big Brothers Big Sisters, founded in 1904, is the oldest and largest youth mentoring organization in the United States. In 2003, the organization served more than 220,000 youths, ages six through eighteen, in 5,000 communities across the country in one-to-one relationships. In 2003, Forbes placed Big Brothers Big Sisters on its Gold-Star list of the top ten charities for its excellence in efficiency and effectiveness. The national headquarters is located in Philadelphia, PA.

As part of community-based programs, volunteers provide children with one-on-one time and attention in their communities, typically two to four times a month. During these unstructured outings they cultivate relationships that provide children with skills to manage every day challenges. Big Brothers Big Sisters also offers a school program where volunteers provide children with one-on-one time and attention in their schools, typically once a week during the academic year. Teachers identify children who can benefit most from interaction with a caring adult.

2.3 Children's Aid Society

The Children's Aid Society, founded in 1853, serves more than 150,000 children and their families each year, often helping them overcome tremendous odds. Its network of more than 100 cutting-edge programs and services provided at over thirty sites in and around New York City supplies a full spectrum of support. The Children's Aid Society's nationally recognized programs are models of social service practice and have impacted national child welfare policy.

A sample of the services provided by the Children's Aid Society includes:

Community Schools - National winner of the "Peter Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation," a partnership with the Board of Education in schools that combine academics with full health and social services and are open up to fifteen hours a day, six days a week, all year.

Health Services -- A network of health, mental health, eye care and dental clinics, which tally nearly 50,000 appointments for children each year, includes "Big Blue," a mobile dental van that brings dental care direct to thousands of children in the poorest parts of the city.

Mentoring Programs - Among them: a corporate tutoring program for preteens at risk of drop-out, and a partnership with the black and Latino bar associations that matches minority boys and girls with lawyers and judges; both programs have an over-ninety percent 'stay in school" rate.

Teen Pregnancy Prevention - A holistic approach that combines sexuality education with a full youth development program, based on the philosophy that education and jobs create the opportunity for a better future.

Homeless Services - Transitional housing for homeless families with children that has found permanent housing for more families, more quickly, than any other city agency.

Renewal Projects - A block-wide project on West 118th Street in New York Citythat rebuilds lives by helping to rehabilitate buildings and connecting needy families to the Children's Aid Society and government-provided services.

3.0 Success of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America

Millions have benefited from belonging to a Boys and Girls Club since the first Club opened its doors in 1860. Based on research by Louis Harris & Associates, prior Club alumni have very strong feelings about their individual Club experiences as evidenced by the following findings:

Eighty percent said Club staff helped them learn right from wrong,

Ninety-five percent indicated the Club was the best thing available in their community,

Fifty-two percent said participating in the Club "saved my life"

Sixty-five percent stated that the Club was the only place to go after school.

The influence of professional staff at the Clubs was rated very high by former members. Ninety-three percent of respondents said, "the staff members in the Club really care and are dedicated." Specific influences include, "learning right from wrong" (eighty percent), "developing self-confidence" (seventy-nine percent), "learning good leadership skills" (seventy-two percent), and "developing the ability to avoid difficulty with the law" (seventy percent).

Many additional studies document that Boys and Girls Clubs offers more than just promises; it returns results. Ranging from academic performance, improved relations with parents, drug abstinence and more responsible sexual behavior, to name a few, Boys and Girls Clubs have had a large role in filling the void left by diminished social infrastructures. This section discusses several studies offering proof that Boys and Girls Clubs does make a difference.

3.1 Southwest Program Study

A study published by Cynthia P. Carruthers and James A. Busser, Associate Professors in the Leisure Studies Program at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2000 found positive outcomes for the Boys and Girls Club. Carruthers and Busser evaluated a county-wide Boys and Girls Club serving over 10,000 youth ages seven through eighteen through five established sites in a large city in the Southwest. The study was qualitative and explored the outcomes of youths' involvement and whether there was congruence between the agency's articulated mission statement and goals and the staff members', club members', and parents' perceptions of the agency's impact. Data collection procedures included participant observations at program facilities and twenty-five interviews with program staff, sixty-one interviews with club members, and seventeen interviews with parents.

The results of the study indicated that involvement in the Boys and Girls Club produced three major outcomes:

A nurturing environment,

The acquisition of positive behaviors, and The development of competence and self-esteem.

The nurturing environment of the club provided members feelings of belonging/love, a second home and sense of family, and a safe haven from the violence and negative experiences of the streets. The positive behaviors acquired by members included staying out of trouble, getting along with others, acquiring positive values, adopting positive role models, learning discipline, and acquiring leadership skills. Club members also increased their perceptions of personal competence and self-esteem through successful involvement in Boys and Girls Club activities.

3.2 Project Learn: The Educational Enhancement Program Study

The Boys and Girls Clubs of America developed Project Learn: The Educational Enhancement Program (EEP), a program designed for six to seventeen-year-olds with five major components: homework help and tutoring, high yielding learning and leisure activities, parent involvement, collaboration with schools, and incentives. The thirty-month evaluation conducted by Dr. Steven Schinke of Columbia University's School of Social Work and funded by the Carnegie Corporation compared youth in Clubs with the EEP to youth in Clubs without EEP and youth in other afterschool programs. The study included five public housing developments across the United States.

Project Learn participants not only increased their grade point averages, but also had markedly higher school scores than the youth participating in other after-school programs. Project Learn participants achieved the following results:

Increased their overall grade point averages by eleven percent

Increased their mathematics grade point averages by thirteen percent

Increased their history grade point averages by thirteen percent

Increased their science grade point averages by ten percent

Increased their spelling grade point averages by twenty-two percent

Increased their reading grade point averages by five percent.

Additionally, Project Learn participants decreased the number of days they were absent from school by sixty-six percent. Compared to non-Boys and Girls Club youth, Project Learn youth missed eighty-seven percent fewer days of school. Further, Project Learn participants reported reading and writing more than did non-Boys and Girls Club youth. The greater the participation in the program, the more the students read books and magazines, received help with their homework, talked with adults about current events, and/or, tutored younger members.

3.3 Project Connect Program Study

In 1999, researchers Henriquez and Ba at the Center for Children and Technology evaluated the pilot version of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America's Project Connect at fourteen Technology Centers. Project Connect is an effort to infuse its member clubs with technology access and use and to inform future technology integration projects at other clubs nationwide. Herniquez and Ba collected data through telephone interviews, site visits and informal meetings. The study concluded that Boys and Girls Clubs of America and its Project Connect program were creating a community environment that can exploit new technologies for engaged learning and the preparation of a qualified and technologically literate workforce.

Project Connect had given children access to technology, educational software, and the Internet, all critical to bridging the digital divide for disadvantaged children. Today, more than sixty percent of jobs require technical skills, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, yet many children lack access. For example, less than one-third of single-parent homes have a computer. Less than five percent of Boys and Girls Club members have computers at home and even when they do access often lacks the latest technology and software they need.

The Project Connect study revealed that by participating in the program children had developed a variety of basic computer literacy skills such as word processing, using spreadsheets, file management, Internet navigation, and conducting research. Some had learned to use software and the Internet for creative and expressive purposes. Technology Coordinators reported that technology labs were used for homework help and members learned to work collaboratively with their peers. Some Coordinators reported an increase in the number of members attending the Clubs because of the new labs.

3.4 SMART Moves Drug Prevention Study

'The Effects Of Boys & Girls Clubs On Alcohol And Other Drug Use And Related Problems In Public Housing" was the result of research funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Substance Abuse Prevention and performed by Columbia University and American Health Foundation staff. The study was published in 1991. For the study, researchers compared fifteen sites divided into: five sites without Boys and Girls Clubs ("no-club sites), five sites with Boys and Girls Clubs that did not offer drug prevention programs ("old club sites"); and five sites of newly-established Boys and Girls Clubs that offered a drug prevention program called Skills Mastery and Resistance Training (SMART) Moves ("new club sites"). The research found lower drug activity and increased parent involvement in new club sites.

Findings showed the following trends for the fifteen sites between pre-test and the two-year follow-up:

in new club sites, the mean scores in the drug activity scale fell from 6.75 to 6, while scores in old club sites increased from 6.25 to 6.8 and in no-club sites increased from 6.6 to 8,

mean scores in the use of crack cocaine scale fell in new club sites from 5.75 to 5.3, and increased in old club sites, from 4.5 to 5.5, and no-club sites from 5.75 to 7,

new club sites showed a significant increase of parental involvement in their children's lives (mean scores of 1.55 and 2.67), old club sites also showed a steady increase (from 3.0 to 3.6), while no-club sites steadily showed low parental involvement (mean scores of 1.5 and 1.6),

new club sites had a high percentage of damaged units in the housing project at the beginning of the project (close to 8.0%), with a two percentage point decrease at followup; old club sites maintained a low percentage of damaged units (4.0%) throughout the period of the study; no-club sites had steadily high percentage of damaged units (8.0% and above),

in the two cities that provided data on criminal activities (Jacksonville, FL, and Houston, TX), projects with new or old clubs showed 13% fewer police reports than projects without clubs (researchers estimated 10 fewer arrests of juveniles per site, each year, due to Boys and Girls Club influence).

3.5 Stay SMART Sexual Activity Study

Stay Smart is a Boys and Girls Club program that seeks to delay the sexual activity of juveniles through a twelve-session abstinence program. Stay SMART contains no contraceptive information or services. Rather, the program employs a postponement approach to sexual activity and conveys the message to teens that if they have been sexually active, they can still decide to postpone further sexual activity. There is also a two-year booster program, called SMART Leaders, to reinforce the skills learned in the Stay SMART program and to encourage teens who completed the program to help their peers resist pressures to engage in sex or do drugs.

Penn State researchers Pierre, Mark, Kaltreider and Aikin performed a twenty-seven-month evaluation of the sexual activity prevention program in fourteen Boys and Girls Clubs across the nation in 1995. The researchers evaluated the outcomes of the program by giving the teens questionnaires to complete before they started the program and three more times over the twenty-seven months of the research project. A total of 161 mostly male thirteen-year-olds participated in the project.

The study found that, relative to the control group, the Stay SMART teens who were non-virgins before the program reported less sexual behavior and less favorable attitudes toward sexual activity. However, the booster program was not effective in prolonging the sex avoidance effect of the abstinence program

An increase in parent-child communication and parental knowledge about sexual activities of their children were discovered to be positive outcomes of Stay SMART.

These are important finding given that teens say their parents (thirty-seven percent) influence their decisions about sex more than friends (thirty-three percent), the media (five percent), or siblings (six percent), according to a nationally-representative survey by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.

3.6 Family Advocacy Network (FAN Club) Study

The Family Advocacy Network, known more commonly as the FAN Club, is offered to the parents of teens in the Boys and Girls Clubs' drug prevention program. Its goal is to strengthen high-risk families by creating a bond between program youth and their parents, reducing maternal isolation, providing opportunities for families to participate in pleasurable activities together, assisting parents to influence their children to lead drug-free lives, and providing social and instrumental support. The FAN Club offered four types of activities:

Basic Support Activities-- helped families cope with daily life or with particular crises. For example, the FAN Club coordinator accompanied parents to social service agencies and offered support or assisted parents with their children's school.

Parent Support Activities-- these mostly social activities were selected by the parents to combat social isolation. They included pot luck dinners, picnics, crafts, pool parties, coffees and other activities open to parents alone or parents and children.

Educational Program Activities -- these parent-selected activities provided education, knowledge or enrichment experiences through speakers who discussed Black History, Puerto Rican culture, AIDS, gang prevention and health.

Leadership Activities-- parents voluntarily planned and implemented these activities which included monthly meetings, fundraising, club-wide dinners, and the Boys & Girls Clubs' summer lunch program. Families also visited nursing homes and prevention program graduations.

Tena St. Pierre, associate professor of agricultural and extension education in the College of Agricultural Sciences, and D. Lynne Kaltreider, research associate in Penn State's Institute for Policy Research and Evaluation along with Dr. Melvin Mark, Penn State professor of psychology in the College of the Liberal Arts, examined parent participation and program effects in a study involving 300 young people at sixteen Boys and Girls Clubs across the United States over a three-year period. Research results were published "Involving Parents of High-Risk Youth in Drug Prevention: A Three-Year Longitudinal Study in Boys & Girls Clubs," in the Journal of Early Adolescence, Vol. 17, Nov. 1, February 1997.

The researchers recorded that forty-four percent of youth at clubs offering a FAN Club program had a parent participate in at least one activity (on average) per month and fifty-four percent attended a FAN Club activity (on average) every other month. Over thirty-six months, youth in the Boys and Girls Clubs that had a FAN Club with the drug prevention program reported increasing ability by members to refuse alcohol, marijuana, and cigarettes, and increasing negative attitudes toward using marijuana.