D. A. R. E Program Analysis

The program’s philosophy is based on the NAEYC’s guidelines on developmentally appropriate practices and Froebel, Piaget, and Gardner’s early learning theories. We believe that every child can learn and grow with the proper care and instruction. The NAEYC defines practices as developmentally appropriate when they consider age and stage related differences, individual differences in learning style and preferences, and social and cultural differences among children (Kostelnik, Soderman, & Whiren, 2011). For this reason we believe that the best way to ensure positive development is to adapt the materials, activities, and the mode of demonstrating learning to meet the varied needs of our students.

To set new activities, activities that is different. So then the Children can develop their skills and not keep using the same activity materials in the same way again, again and again.

Boys and Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) is a countrywide organization of local subdivisions that provide after-school programs for young people. The purpose of BGCA is to provide young people with a safe environment during weekends and after school. As a non-profit organization, Boys and Girls Clubs of America run after-school clubs that serves over 4 million children across 3,400 facilities throughout 50 states and Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. The organization also has 150 clubs located on the Native American tribal lands as well as another 400 clubs located in military bases that are spread across the globe. Since its inception, the organization and its predecessors have been tackling juvenile delinquency for more than 100 years. In order to accomplish this objective, BGCA opens the clubs on a daily basis after school and during weekends. These clubs are managed by full-time youth development professionals who are supported by volunteers in the community. Despite of its activities revolving around sports and recreational activities, BGCA provide programs that focus on health and life skills, character and leadership development, computer skills, and arts.

The Boys and Girls Club of America is a non-profit organization that provides youth with after-school resources. The club's membership fees are only five dollars per a year to insure that every child has a right to join the club. The organization's goals are to make sure every child graduates high school and has life skills to become successful. The five programs (Education & Career; Character & Leadership; Health & Life Skills; The Arts; and Sports, Fitness, and Recreation) aim to give the child a core development to become prosperous.

The overview of these three programs and attaining them is optimal, essentially a cycle of opportunity. By providing these services it develops a base for a long-term goal of achieving self-sufficiency and out of poverty. However, the accessibility of these beneficial resources may be difficult to obtain based on eligibility. New ideas that may help improve or reduce disparities in future programs can begin by concentrating on and expanding educational resources. For instance, a program that holds educational sessions on a monthly base, targeting communities, informing families of available resources and assisting with the application process. Another idea would be collaborating with the school system, specifically low-income based communities. After school program can be initiated to target parents that need assistance with extra resources and services. Lastly, innovating a classroom setting program for the duration of one-year, furthering educational and leadership ability for

“The effects of the juvenile justice programs are “profound and crippling,” setting youth back instead of helping them.” (Just Learning: The Imperative to Transform Juvenile Justice Systems into Effective Educational Systems) These centers do much more harm than good when it comes to the children staying in these facilities. The “education” that these centers are giving

The first important ingredient in the G.R.E.A.T program is the instruction of life skills is the foundation of the program. The program is intended as an immunization against delinquency, youth violence, and gang membership for children in the years immediately before the prime ages for introduction into gangs and delinquent behavior. In accordance with a study by Dr. Esbensen in 2000, delinquency often serves as a precursor to gang involvement, the GREAT program focuses on providing life skills to students to help them avoid delinquent behavior and resorting to violence to solve problems. Communities need not have a gang problem in order to benefit from the program as its primary objective is prevention and is intended as an immunization against delinquency, youth violence, and gang membership.

Now reading through the procon.org article on D.A.R.E there are many pros, but the sad truth is that the bad outweighs the good. In the article the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) says the program reportedly “lower alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use among youth” and those who haven’t been through the program…...well they were unsuccessful in helping prevent those kids with drug use.Another pro is that the program “improves” social making skills and has good effects on students' knowledge of drugs, social skills, decision making skills, and attitude towards law enforcement. A case study by the university of Akron showed that a 6 % of the students who went through the program show a higher decision making skills than those who didn't go through the program. 6 % that's a very low number out of all those kids they go around and teach, something that caught my attention on the con side is that, 40% of students told researchers of the program that they weren't at all influenced by D.A.R.E. If you read this far I bet you’re wondering about this serious and important question. Since we learned that the program members goes around school to school informing the kids, why is it that they aren’t successful with completely having 100% of the students off drugs? Makes you wonder if they are taking their jobs serious enough if D.A.R.E

The NJCK program assists parents with childcare for infants, toddlers, preschool age children, school age children up to the age of thirteen (13), for children with special needs until the age nineteen (19). The child care subsidy through the NJCK program will assist parent(s) who is working a minimum of 30 hours or more or going to school fulltime with 12 credits a semester or in a 20-hour training program or a combination of both (working part-time/school part-time). The D.O.E. Wraparound program (Former Abbott) assist in paying before and aftercare for families residing in West New York, Harrison, Hoboken, Union City and Jersey City.

All programs have limitations to them and they are not all perfect. Downs, Robertson and Harrison did a study on the diversion program and the effectiveness it had in helping drug abusers. They observed 127 clients total, ages 13-17. They found that the diversion program they used with these adolescents was not effective and led to negative self-labels and more deviant behavior. They found that some adolescents that were sent to this program were not heavy drug users and had family issues, but due to the program being drug based it led to the negative self-label of drug abuser. This program didn’t have many restorative aspects to it. Diversion programs for juveniles should be separate from juveniles who need support to fix a drug addiction

There is a certain environment that is critical for learning to take place. If the boys are always too noisy, too aggressive or too boisterous, then, of course, they are going to have to face the consequences of their actions.

As a social worker and member of the talented tenth, I am given a platform to use my knowledge and experience to help improve the well-being of individuals, families, and communities. In Atlanta’s southside communities, they have been stripped of majority of the community resources, they have no community centers, after school programs are being taken out of schools, and crime rates are increasing. To improve the well-being the community, I will create a year round program for underprivileged children called Pathways. Placing the program in at risk communities where resources are limited and crime rates are high, Pathways will provide the youth with after school activities, tutoring, mentoring programs, educational advancement programs, and mental health programs. I want parents to feel like their children have a safe place to be other than home, where they can go to talk when they have a problem, need help with homework, or explore their interest in new things. Youth within troubled community also face many mental health problems, the most

Everything teachers plan and do should focus on the individual child. They tailor, adjust, and adapt the curriculum to fit each child in the program, rather than expecting children to fit the program (Elkind, 1987). It is imperative in a developmentally appropriate perspective that the curriculum and teaching methods be age appropriate, individually appropriate, and culturally appropriate (Bredekamp & Copple, 1997). This means considering and understanding similarities within an age group, and also recognizing each child’s individual differences. In a developmentally appropriate classroom, children are allowed to progress at their own rate, and both the curriculum and teaching strategies are relevant for all the children in the classroom. Thus, a great deal of flexibility is required, but this does not mean a total lack of structure and academics; rather, it means that the structure and academics of the program are based on individual and group needs and current understanding of child development (Raines, 1997).

I have joined a program that has helped me change my community into a better environment. I joined a program, Casa Che, during my junior year. This program seemed very interesting to me due to the fact that makes youth make changes in their own community. In Casa Che, we get to meet students from other schools who also want to change their environment into a better place. We meet once a week and talk about whatever comes to our mind. We respect each other and respect the environment we all share. In this program, we talk about violence and how we can work together to make our community a better place. We make events that makes each one of us come together and work with other adults and

This paper examines the benefit cost analyses of youth, children, and family programs by means of investigating previous studies in the area and comparing benefit cost analyses of different programs. Benefit cost analysis (BCA) of these programs differ from BCA of infrastructure, health or environmental programs due to the mental and intangible consequences. This paper addresses the main principles applied in BCA and procedural steps. It also compares BCA of programs conducted by nonprofit and government organizations. The strength and challenges of BCAs in family, child and youth programs are also assessed. I reached to a