California's Next After-School Challenge - Fight Crime: Invest in Kids

Preventing Teen Sex, Drug and Alcohol
Use, and Smoking
Research shows that quality after-school
programs prevent teen sex, teen pregnancy,
and drug, alcohol and cigarette use by teens.
In California:
• The YouthWORKS after-school program
was established in a Sacramento neighborhood
with the highest rate of teen pregnancy in the
county. Since 1998, only one female in the
YouthWORKS after-school program became
pregnant while participating in the program.
To the knowledge of program coordinators, no
other participants became pregnant prior to
high school graduation. 19
“students who engaged in
extracurricular activities were
less likely to engage in
risky behaviors”
YouthWORKS is an after-school program for
young people ages 12 to 18 that offers a variety
of activities including homework assistance, life
skills classes, college and career planning, and
recreation. The co-ed program serves 140
youths—approximately ten percent of teens in
the neighborhood.
• A survey of 4,000 California ninth graders
found that students who engaged in
extracurricular activities were less likely to
engage in risky behaviors—such as cigarette,
alcohol and marijuana use—than students who
were unsupervised and hanging out. 20
Nationally:
• Inner-city teens were randomly assigned
to the Children’s Aid Society/Carrera afterschool
program in New York City or to a
control group. Researchers found, after
controlling for age, ethnicity, family income
and peer behavior, that three years later girls
not in the program were three times more
likely to get pregnant and twice as likely to be
sexually active than girls in the program. 21
The Children’s Aid Society/Carrera program
operates five days a week after school for three
hours each day. Participants receive academic
support every day and rotate among four other
activities including jobs, comprehensive family
life and sex education, arts and sports.
Participants receive stipends for job activities.
• After randomly-selected high school
freshmen from welfare families were assigned
to participate in the Quantum Opportunities
after-school and graduation incentive program,
girls and boys left out were 50 percent more
likely to have children during their high school
years. 22
• A study compared over 1,600 high school
participants in the Teen Outreach servicelearning
program at 60 sites across the nation
with a matched comparison group of similar
students. It found, after controlling for
significant background factors related to
pregnancy (race/ethnicity and past history of
pregnancy), that one year later teens not in the
program were twice as likely to become
pregnant or get someone pregnant as program
participants. 23
Teen Outreach is offered to ninth through
twelfth graders in cities across the nation. The
program involves supervised community
service, classroom-based discussions of service
experiences, and classroom-based discussions
and activities related to youth development.
Participants meet in classroom settings at least
once a week and perform, generally after
school or on weekends, nearly 40 hours of
community service a year. 24
• After 18 months, participants in the afterschool
program at the South Baltimore Youth
Center were significantly less likely to use
drugs and alcohol than a comparison group,
although they initially had been more likely to
engage in such conduct. 25
• A study of 11- to 16-year-olds in the Big
Brothers/Big Sisters mentoring program
showed that young applicants randomly
FIGHT CRIME: INVEST IN KIDS CALIFORNIA