October 31, 2002 | Read Time: 1 minute
Targeted Outreach: Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s Approach to Gang Prevention and Intervention, by Amy J.A. Arbreton and Wendy S. McClanahan, evaluates two programs developed in response to the rise in the number of gangs in the early 1990s: one designed to keep at-risk youths from getting involved in gangs, and the other geared toward helping gang members quit. In 1997, Public/Private Ventures studied 21 Boys & Girls Clubs that used the prevention approach and three clubs that encouraged gang participants to leave. Some of these projects went beyond the typical Boys & Girls Club strategy, offering a more intensive and service-oriented program that incorporated community leaders who work with gang-associated youths. The programs used two different strategies, offering services as varied as drug treatment, tattoo removal, and job training for those in the intervention program. The study found that the clubs kept a majority of youths engaged in programs for a year. It showed that those who frequently attended the intervention program were less likely to wear gang colors, exhibited fewer delinquent behaviors like stealing, and improved their grades in school. The study also found that many who frequently attended the prevention programs showed signs they were avoiding gang-associated behaviors such as flashing hand signals, wearing gang colors, and hanging out at the same place as gang members. The participants also were less likely to get in trouble with law-enforcement agencies and were more likely to plan on graduating from high school or obtaining a GED.
