How Youth Services Measure Impact While Empowering Youth
How can we help our youth overcome the challenges they face and thrive in today’s world? One key factor contributing to positive outcomes for young people is resilience: the ability to cope with stress, adversity, and change. Resilience is not a fixed trait that some have, and others lack; it is a dynamic process that can be fostered and strengthened by various interventions and supports!
What is CCBYS?
Introducing CCBYS: our Comprehensive Community-Based Youth Services that provides round-the-clock care to youth aged 11-17 and their families, offering crisis intervention, counseling, case management, and more. Through the program, we aim to stabilize the often-high-risk situations of these youth and prevent further contact with juvenile justice or child welfare systems, ultimately fostering resilience within them.
At the heart of our program lies a commitment to helping local youth overcome challenges and flourish in today’s world.
How Do We Measure Our Impact?
Our team understands many conditions can contribute to a child’s struggles and success. Our program looks at two main factors to paint a better picture of their progress through our program. Risk factors—conditions or behaviors that increase the likelihood of negative outcomes, such as substance abuse, mental health issues, or family conflict. As well as protective factors—conditions or behaviors that decrease the likelihood of negative outcomes, such as academic achievement, positive peer relationships, or community involvement.
The Youth Assessment and Screening Instrument (YASI) helps us assess the risk and protective factors present in the youth’s lives at various stages of their involvement with the program.
The Data Speaks for Itself.
Using YASI, we assessed youth from our CCBYS program in fiscal year 2020 from the first assessment to the post-treatment assessment. The results are powerful, demonstrating the effectiveness of CCBYS in reducing risk and enhancing protection for those in our care.
Dynamic risk factors, which are responsive to interventions, show significant decreases in average scores post-treatment. This means lower levels of risk among program participants. Similarly, dynamic protective factors see large increases in average scores, highlighting heightened levels of protection following engagement with our services. Check out the graphs below.
These findings show the transformative impact of CCBYS in stabilizing youth situations, mitigating risk, and fostering resilience. By strengthening protective factors, we provide our youth with the skills, resources, and confidence needed to confront adversity and bounce back from challenges so they can thrive!
