Promoting Emotional and Behavioral Health in Preteens

The Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health supports youth development efforts¹ that foster resilience and prevent high-risk behaviors in 9- to 13-year-olds. Rather than focusing on "fixing" youth, the foundation is interested in programs that are preventive in their approach, and provide preteens with longer-term, quality opportunities to engage in positive activities and develop relationships that support their healthy development.²

Within this broad focus area, the foundation is primarily interested in efforts that support the following strategies:

1. Enhance the quality and/or availability of after-school programs for preteens in low-income communities.

   a. Support programs providing enrichment activities for after-school sites receiving public funding

   b. Create or strengthen networks of after-school programs to help them connect, coordinate, access resources, and exchange information;

   c. Assist with recruiting, training, and retaining quality staff and leadership in after-school programs

   d. Provide resources and tools for improving the quality of after-school programs

2. Support school environments that foster the emotional/behavioral health of preteens by funding:

   a. Curriculum development and training programs for adults working with preteens

   b. Model or promising programs for students during school hours.

Guiding Principles for Quality After-School Programs Serving Preteens
The foundation commissioned Public/Private Ventures (P/PV) to produce the report, Putting It All Together: Guiding Principles for Quality After-School Programs Serving Preteens, which identifies six characteristics of quality after-school programs that are linked to positive outcomes for preteens. In addition to alignment with the above strategies, the foundation also looks for programs that possess or are striving toward these principles. Please review the report at www.lpfch.org/afterschool. A companion Resource Guide also is available and includes links to research and tools to strengthen after-school programs according to these principles.

This report builds on a set of benchmarks of quality programs previously produced by P/PV in 2004. The new report updates these benchmarks, now called "guiding principles," based on the latest research.

While many factors, such as organizational capacity, the needs of the youth served and available resources, all play a role in determining a program's success, research suggests that these six principles are essential for program quality. That quality, in turn, is the foundation for positive results for youth. At the same time, the foundation recognizes that implementing these principles well is a long-term, ongoing process.

These are websites (listed in alphabetical order) that Foundation staff have found useful. The list is by no means exhaustive, and we encourage you to email us with other resources.

Building Partnerships for Youth

Child Trends

Children, Youth, and Families Education and Research Network

Community Programs to Promote Youth Development

Forum for Youth Investment

Harvard Family Research Project Out-of-School Time Evaluation Database

Institute for Youth Development

National Youth Development Information Center

Public Private Ventures

Promising Practices in After-School

Footnotes:

1) Youth Development is the ongoing process in which young people are engaged in building the skills, attitudes, knowledge and experience that prepare them for life. It is an approach that builds on the strengths and assets of young people, rather than concentrating solely on the prevention or treatment of problems.

2) McLaughlin, M. (Autumn, 1999). Community Counts -- How Youth Organizations Matter for Youth Development. Public Education Network.