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At-Risk Youth Programs THE PROGRAM for Women and Families addresses the needs of adolescent populations at risk of criminal behavior. The two primary programs, Alternative Learning Program – Helping Adolescents (A.L.P.H.A.) and Disciplinary Education Alternative Learning (the D.E.A.L. program), work with pre-delinquent and delinquent adolescents to prevent and break cycles of criminality in the next generation. In the juvenile versions of RESPECT and STOPLIFT, At-Risk Youth Programs also meet the needs of juvenile populations at risk for HIV infection and those who have been convicted of shoplifting. Alternative Learning Program - Helping Adolescents (A.L.P.H.A.)
A.L.P.H.A. targets those adolescents who
are on probation in Lehigh County and who have either dropped out of school or
who have been expelled. Most live in the city of Allentown. A.L.P.H.A. uses a
variety of teaching modalities including community-outreach projects, education
through the arts and literacy training. It provides both academic and behavioral
(psycho-social) instruction. Grounded in principles of restorative justice, A.L.P.H.A. is structured to meet the academic and behavioral needs of the adolescents it serves. The academic component offers adolescents the opportunity to prepare for and take the GED exam and learn the basic skills they need to succeed in the work force. Since the vast majority of youth enrolled in A.L.P.H.A. are 16 to 17 years old with the last full grade completed being the 9th, re-enrollment in public school is not an option. For the 2 to 3 percent of A.L.P.H.A. students for whom re-enrollment is an option, academic tutoring is provided to help them transition successfully back into the public school system. The psycho-educational curriculum of A.L.P.H.A.’s behavioral component teaches students the importance of taking responsibility for their actions and being accountable for the kinds of behaviors that got them in trouble with the law. In 2004, a community outreach component was introduced into the A.L.P.H.A. behavioral curriculum. Designed to teach students the importance of caring about the welfare of others, outreach projects have included creating cards for the elderly in an assisted living facility, participating in anti-smoking activities relating to national Kick Butts Day, and planting and tending the “A.L.P.H.A. Gardens” at THE PROGRAM’s Walnut Street facility. What also sets A.L.P.H.A. apart from other programs for at-risk youth are the art and creative writing workshops that have been incorporated into the curriculum since 2000. In collaboration with Lehigh Valley Arts Council, these workshops offer a multi-modal learning experience and provide A.L.P.H.A. students with alternative forms of expression all within the academic and behavioral context of the program. Among a population with chronic truancy problems, the average attendance record for A.L.P.H.A. students in 2006 was an impressive 80 percent. Beyond that, with registration requirements and the time it takes to learn the results, 20 percent of A.L.P.H.A. students took the GED test and learned that they had passed them within just three months of having graduated from the program. A.L.P.H.A. is supported primarily with funds received under the terms of a contract with the Lehigh County Juvenile Probation Department and with funds allocated by The United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley. Additional support comes from the Trexler Trust and other local foundations, corporate sponsors including Air Products and Chemicals and individual donors. Disciplinary Education Alternative Learning (D.E.A.L.) D.E.A.L. is an alternative in- and out-of-school suspension program based in the Parkland School District, with the out-of-school program open to other area school districts through the Parkland administration. Aimed at addressing the issues surrounding pre-delinquent adolescent behaviors, the D.E.A.L. program was first established by THE PROGRAM for Women and Families in 1995. Today it continues to serve well over 600 students every year. Traditional forms of school suspension send students home for a period of 3 to 10 days. This traditional system typically leaves students totally unsupervised and vulnerable to falling behind academically, a precursor to academic failure and documented pathway to delinquency. The D.E.A.L. program offers students a safe, supervised learning environment that enables them to continue their academic studies and provides them with the opportunity to address the behaviors that led to their suspension. Facilitated by a certified academic instructor and a behavioral specialist, the D.E.A.L. out-of-school component runs concurrent with the regular school day – 7:30 to 3:30, Monday through Friday throughout the school year. All students receive individualized academic attention, helping them complete grade- and class-appropriate assignments either provided by teachers or by the D.E.A.L. academic instructor. The psycho-educational curriculum of D.E.A.L.’s behavioral component – offered in both the in- and out-of-school suspension programs – helps students better understand their defiant behaviors. It teaches them the importance of taking responsibility for the actions that resulted in their suspensions, while they learn the skills they need to help them make different – better – choices in the future. The primary goal of the behavioral component is to improve the problem-solving and conflict management skills of students, thereby reducing the likelihood of continued defiant behavior in school. D.E.A.L. is supported primarily with funds received from the Parkland School District. Additional support comes from the Trexler Trust and other local foundations, corporate sponsors and individual donors. RESPECT for juveniles is an age-appropriate HIV/AIDS prevention and education program designed to empower individuals to reduce and change behaviors that place them at risk for HIV infection. The focus of RESPECT is not just on HIV/AIDS education, but on attitudes and behaviors that place young people at risk for HIV infection. RESPECT is facilitated in sequential psycho-educational groups by trained professionals who have experience working with at-risk youth. The curriculum is organized into four modules covered during 8- or 12-week cycles, depending on the length of each class:
What sets RESPECT apart from other HIV prevention education programs is its unique access to populations at exceptionally high risk of contracting and spreading HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. Juvenile RESPECT participants include youth held at the Lehigh County Juvenile Detention Center and those enrolled in the agency’s A.L.P.H.A. program. The specific objectives of the RESPECT program are:
Every year RESPECT reaches more than 350 juveniles and adults at risk of contracting HIV in the Lehigh Valley. In 2006-2007, RESPECT will include one-on-one supportive services designed to help participants who have completed the program effectively implement healthy behavioral changes. RESPECT is supported primarily by a grant from AIDSNET. Additional support comes from the Trexler Trust and other local foundations, corporate sponsors and individual donors. STOPLIFT is a unique retail-theft educational program for juveniles who have committed the crime of retail or petty theft – shoplifters. STOPLIFT is organized as an intensive one-day class rather than being scheduled as a sequential series of short sessions over a period of several weeks during which the problems of attrition and poor attendance would undermine the program’s impact. The STOPLIFT curriculum is modeled after the Minnesota Youth Intervention Program Association’s evidence-based Stolen Moments seminar which has 25 years of documented success in dealing with the problem of shoplifting among adolescent and adult populations. STOPLIFT is taught by trained, credentialed academic instructors with experience working with at-risk populations. Participants engage in activities that facilitate the examination of their personal motives for stealing. They learn about the legal consequences they will face if they continue to shoplift and they learn specific techniques to help them prevent a reoccurrence of the behavior. Referring agents to STOPLIFT include judges, district justices, probation officers, store security officers, social service agencies, and schools. Self-referrals through families also are accepted. Employment and/or school attendance excuses are provided to participants who request them. Each participant is required to pay a tuition fee of $100, in some cases in lieu of the fine imposed for having been convicted of shoplifting. An additional fee of $20 is added each time a participant misses a class and, with prior approval of the referring agent, is expected to re-schedule and attend another class. Juvenile STOPLIFT classes are held at the Martin J. Bechtel Building on 520 East Broad Street in Bethlehem, PA 18018, in the basement conference room. Classes begin promptly at 9:00 a.m. and end at 2:00 p.m.. For schedule and additional information, please contact Liz Fox, At-Risk Youth Program Director for THE PROGRAM for Women and Families, at 610-433-6556 x118 or at lfox@thepwf.org. Referrals also can be made directly via fax at 610-433-1983. Please indicate clearly on the fax that this is a referral for Juvenile STOPLIFT and provide all of the relevant information needed to contact the juvenile being referred and the referring agent.
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This site last maintained July 15, 2008 |
