Targeted Outreach - Governor's Office of Crime Control & Prevention ...

Introduction 7
programs that directly address youth’s interests and
needs at the same time. Nevertheless, the positive
results for youth’s participation in Clubs’ existing
programming are encouraging.
Finally, it must be noted that the definitiveness of the
evaluation is limited by the nature of the comparison
group, which was selected to match the target youth
on race, gender, age and neighborhood, but was not
as successfully matched on risk behaviors. Thus,
although the examination of changes in behaviors
over time provides guiding evidence of the effect
GPTTO and GITTO can have on youth who participate,
the results are not conclusive as to those outcomes
that may be impacted by random assignment.
The Structure of the Report
Chapter II examines the first research question: “Did
the Clubs reach their intended population of youth?”
It details who the Clubs reached in terms of risk, age,
gender and referral status. Chapter III explores the
youth’s experiences at the Clubs, describing the
developmental supports they receive, along with
their participation and retention rates and reasons
for their engagement or lack of engagement.
Chapter IV addresses the effect participation in
GPTTO and GITTO had on the target youth’s lives
over the course of one year. Chapter V addresses the
fourth research question—how the Clubs reached
the youth and served them in the Clubs. In particular,
Chapter V explores the practices that are most
likely responsible for explaining youth’s retention
and experiences in the Clubs, and the positive effects
GPTTO and GITTO have on the Clubs and their
youth. Finally, Chapter VI summarizes the key findings
and includes an assessment of how much these
strategies cost.