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Successes
- Our Family Preservation Program offers short-term respite for youth who have had a conflict at home, and ongoing family strengthening counseling for reunified families. In 2011, 80% of parents stated that the program helped their child get along better with family members, and 82% of youth had no subsequent involvement with the District’s child welfare agency
- Of the 127 gang-involved youth involved in SBY’s Southwest Youth Development Initiative this year, 117 participants (92%) averted entering or re-entering the Justice system, 23 participants (18%) secured employment, and 5 participants (4%) entered college.
- 236 homeless youth were admitted in 2010 to our emergency shelter, the Sasha Bruce House. 94% of these young people either “graduated” to our transitional living programs or were reunited successfully with their families.
- Over the past three years, our HYPE Program has accepted 271 referrals from charter schools, public institutions and community partners. A third of this number came to us directly from juvenile detention or jail; 90% of admissions reported recently sexual activity. To-date we have retained 182 of these young people in sustained interventions with notable decreases in recidivism and a range of risk factors including drug use and unsafe sex.
- 130 young adults have completed the SBY YouthBuild program over the past eight years. We are proud to report that over 50% of trainees received a GED. Following program completion, 76% of trainees to-date (and 90% this quarter) were accepted to post-secondary schools or landed a living-wage job. 100% of those completing the program received nationally recognized certification related to the construction industry.
- The Sasha Bruce Zocalo Program offered a high impact pregnancy prevention program for 120 highest risk youth in Grades 5 – 9 and their parents during Fiscal Year 2011. Services included a parent skill building group, substance abuse prevention group for youth, sexual health groups and case management services. None of the youth we served over the past year have become pregnant, all are maintaining their attachment and participation at school and our evaluations show the parents giving us high marks for the help we have offered at our community-based sites and in their homes.
- From November ’09 to September ’10, a total of 1,274 homeless or “street” youth were engaged in trusting relationships during outreach. Furthermore, 73 of these youth contacted on the street received intensive crisis intervention services and were admitted to our shelter on the same day that street contact was made.
- During the 12-month period of October 2008 through September 2009, our mobile HIV testing team administered a total of 967 HIV tests, post test counseling and HIV screening for youth at highest risk of infection.
- In 2009, 69 young people were offered emergency respite at our Family Preservation Program following a conflict at home. This important program is unique in DC and is designed to prevent entry of young people into the foster care system.
- In 2009, 1,802 youth in unstable living situations were engaged in ongoing counseling services in their homes and at our offices designed to improve social and communication skills, prevent conflict, promote academic progress and teach responsible sexual decision-making.
- In 2009, 18 homeless teenagers were admitted to our service-enriched transitional housing program and all have been re-enrolled in school.
- All young people in SBY’s independent living facilities have maintained their attendance in school during their time at our programs.
- SBY’s After-School Program offers young people tutoring, civic engagement and peer leadership opportunities, career and educational planning every weekday during late afternoons and early evenings. This past summer saw an average attendance of 30 youth.
- During 2008, one hundred percent of the teenagers and young adults who were homeless when they entered our three transitional and independent living programs left to enter stable living situations, many with their families.
- From April through December 2007, our HOPE Pregnancy Prevention Team reached 238 youth through a variety of “best practice” individual and group counseling approaches. And roughly 95% were engaged in other SBY youth development activities. There were no pregnancies among this group.
- Among our older set of young women and men graduating from our independent living facilities in 2008, 61 percent secured permanent living arrangements buoyed by steady employment.
- 88 percent of older teens who exited our Transitional Living Program in 2008 were fully employed and had achieved their initial and ongoing goals.