Wednesday, March 12, 2025
3/12/2025
Urban Strategies requests $827,818 for Year 1 to implement “Opportunities Beyond the Narrative: Interventions for Justice-Involved Youth.” The program is a rigorous evaluation of an innovative intervention. The intervention was the subject of a 2-year formative evaluation with OPA Phase 1 funding. The intervention consists of: 1) a promising curriculum called Project With, based on literary texts such as stories and adapted for use with justice-involved youth; 2) trained mentors/facilitators, called “Youth Advocates,” from Community-and-faith-based (CFBO) Intervention Partners, who deliver curriculum with a culturally relevant and relational approach; and 3) implementation setting within Los Angeles County Probation Youth Camps. Our intervention shows great promise in formative studies for its potential to promote optimal health and reduce teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among justice-involved youth incarcerated in Los Angeles County Probation Youth Camps. The target population for the intervention is justice-involved youth aged 15-19. Independent evaluator WestEd will conduct a rigorous quasi-experimental design (QED) study. The study will be an efficacy study. The research design will consist of an impact study to assess the extent to which the intervention resulted in improvements in the key primary outcomes and a descriptive study that will assess the perceived impact of the program on reducing risky sexual behavior six months post-intervention, along with an implementation study to generate best practices in implementation. The project will increase the body of knowledge in the field regarding efficacious teen pregnancy prevention interventions for justice-involved youth through rigorous evaluation of a promising intervention.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).