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

Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s Approach to Gang Prevention and Intervention
Acknowledgments
This research was made possible by funding from The
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
(OJJDP) and The Pinkerton Foundation. We thank these
organizations for their support and dedication to working
on hard issues pertaining to high-risk youth.
This report is the culmination of three years of work on
the part of many organizations and individuals. The Boys
& Girls Clubs of America (BGCA), who commissioned the
study, was a key participant in the evaluation. BGCA staff
members Frank Sanchez and Becky Hagstrom provided
feedback on data collection instruments and on drafts of
this report. Graham Duval, formerly of BGCA, dutifully
tracked data collection forms and fulfilled our requests for
additional information about the sites. The BGCA advisory
board for Gang Prevention Through Targeted Outreach
(GPTTO) provided P/PV with valuable feedback on data
collection instruments and the evaluation design. At the
beginning of the project, Denise Herz examined the
research design and instruments to be used and provided
important insights and recommendations for assessment
tools. Barry Glick and Buddy Howell reviewed this document
and offered comments and suggestions for references
and clarifications; Irving Spergel commented on the
analysis of risk factors for youth. Jim Burch and Phelan
Wyrick of OJJDP thoroughly reviewed an early draft.
We would also like to thank the P/PV staff whose contributions
to the study and report were invaluable. Nina
Chernoff (a former P/PV staff member) spent many
hours on site visits, collecting and analyzing data, and
training sites in data collection. Zoua Vang (a former
P/PV staff member) and Tracey Hartmann analyzed the
organizational surveys. Tracey Hartmann also joined us
on several site visits, conducted some valuable analyses
and contributed to the writing of the report; Zoua Vang
contributed to the literature review. Eleanor Hammond
managed and processed the incoming data. Karen Walker,
Jean Grossman, Gary Walker and Kathryn Furano
reviewed drafts of the report and provided insightful comments
that honed its content and structure. Natalie Jaffe
edited multiple drafts of the report, Lynn Davis-Trier
completed a final edit and Carol Kersbergen processed
copyedits. Malish & Pagonis designed the report, and
Maxine Sherman coordinated its publication and dissemination.
Finally, a very special thanks goes to Sarah Pepper;
her expert analysis of the data was critical to the study and
its culmination in this report.
The project was supported by Award Number 95-JD-FX-
0007, awarded by OJJDP’s Office of Justice Programs.
The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations
expressed in this publication are those of the
authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the
U.S. Department of Justice.
Finally, this study would not have been possible without
the cooperation of all of the GPTTO and Gang
Intervention Through Targeted Outreach (GITTO) study
Clubs. A special thanks goes to the Boys & Girls Clubs who
hosted our visits and provided us with valuable information
about program operations and implementation: Boys
& Girls Club of Manatee County, Bradenton and Palmetto
units; Boys & Girls Club of Garden Grove, Garden Grove
and Peters units; Tustin Boys & Girls Club; Boys & Girls
Club of Greater Forth Worth, Comin’ Up program; Boys &
Girls Club of St. Paul, Getting Out Program; and Boys &
Girls Club of Ventura, Facing the Future program.
We also appreciate the work of Katherine Flint, Tammy
Ouellette and James Ross of Macro International, Inc.,
along with their team of field and phone interviewers, who
were responsible for the follow-up interview high response
rates. They also helped the Clubs identify, recruit and survey
comparison group youth.