FAQ: At-risk resiliency and service learning

Information Specialists at the Learn and Serve America National
Service-Learning Clearinghouse have been compiling lists of resources to
answer questions frequently asked by callers on our toll-free number
(1-800-808-7378).  These questions are shared with service-learning
listservs on a regular basis, along with a list of resources we have
compiled for that question.  If anyone is aware of information on a
specific program or any another valuable resource not listed with an
FAQ, we would greatly appreciate hearing about it on the listserv and we
will add it to our growing list of resources.

This week’s question:
Where can I find information on using service-learning as a method for
building resiliency in youth and preventing engagement in at-risk
behavior?


Organizations

National Dropout Prevention Center
Clemson University, 209 Martin Street, Clemson, SC  29634-0726
Phone: 864-656-2599; URL: www.dropoutprevention.org
NDPC serves as the Regional Information Center for the south and
provides access to the National Dropout Prevention Network, a major
source for information on the use of service-learning programs to help
young people succeed in school.

Activism 2000 Project
P.O. Box E, Kensington, MD, 20895
Phone: 1-800-KID-POWER; URL: http://www.youthactivism.com/
Activism 2000 Project is a democracy dropout prevention clearinghouse
encouraging maximum youth participation. The web site provides advice
sot adults who would like to get involved in youth development, details
success stories of youth-led initiatives to combat and prevent
destructive behaviors in youth, provides a list of resources in the
areas of youth development and at risk issues.

Bureau for At-Risk Youth
135 Dupont Street, PO Box 760, Plainview, New York 11803-0760
Voice: 1-800-999-6884; Email info@at-risk.com; URL:
http://www.at-risk.com/
The Bureau For At-Risk Youth is an educational publisher and distributor
of programs, videos, publications and products for youth at-risk and
their caregivers. Started in 1990, The Bureau has quickly become the
nation's leading supplier of innovative, high-quality, user-friendly
resources that help children, teens, parents, educators and others cope
with the many vital issues facing today's youth. Areas of concern and
publishing activity include substance abuse, teenage sexuality and
pregnancy, violence prevention, conflict resolution, child abuse,
self-esteem and much more.

National Indian Youth Leadership Project
814 S. Boardman, Gallup, NM 87301-4711
Voice: (505) 722-9176; Fax: (505) 722-9794
E-mail: waldenco@ix.netcom.com; URL: http://www.niylp.org
The NIYLP is a grassroots, non-profit, service organization which has
developed a variety of national and local programs for Native youth and
communities.  Project Venture is a nationally recognized NIYLP program
that provides direct services to high risk Navajo youth; disseminates
their unique experiential, servant leadership model to other tribal
entities through a national training initiative; and researches and
documents program impacts.

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s National Youth
Network
U.S. Department of Justice; Phone: 202-466-6272, ext. 141;
URL: http://www.usdoj.gov/kidspage/getinvolved/8.htm
The mission of the National Youth Network is to act as a catalyst for
youth across the country to prevent crime and victimization and to make
a difference in their communities The National Youth Network provides
young people with a unique opportunity to share perspectives with other
teenagers on issues related to delinquency prevention and juvenile
justice.  The National Youth Network is made up of youth, ages 12 to 20,
designated by participating sponsor organizations. Young people
representing local nonprofit, community-based, school, or juvenile
justice organizations are also invited to join.


Publications

**Note: References cited below with an ED (ERIC document) number are
available in ERIC and can be purchased through EDRS at:
https://orders.edrs.com/Webstore/Default.cfm or by calling 800-443-3742
(If you have access to a college/university library they may have these
items on microfiche, ask your librarian.)

TITLE: School-Based Cased Management: An Integrated Service Model for
Early Intervention with Potential Dropouts
AUTHOR: Albert J Smith
YEAR: 1995
PAGES: 12
AVAILABILITY: National Dropout Prevention Center; Phone: 864-656-2599
ABSTRACT: The purpose of this publication is to introduce school
personnel concerned with early intervention with potential school
dropouts to a promising school-based interprofessional case management
model that has been successfully field-tested in 25 very different
elementary school communities of Idaho and Washington State over seven
years.

TITLE: Service Learning: Meeting the Needs of Youth At Risk
AUTHORS: Marty Duckenfield; Lorilei Swanson
YEAR: 1992
PAGES: 31
AVAILABILITY: National Dropout Prevention Center; Phone: 864-656-2599
ABSTRACT: Service learning has been found to be a potentially powerful
dropout prevention tool. Service learning combines community service
with learning activities. Participating students must be engaged in
significant, well planned, genuine service. Second, they must reflect on
their experiences of serving others to ensure a complete learning
experience. These requirements are vital to a successful service
learning experience. Many favorable outcomes occur in each of the
following developmental areas through participation in service learning
activities: personal growth; social growth; intellectual growth;
citizenship; and preparation for the world of work. Service learning can
be integrated into the organizational structure of a school through four
progressively complex levels of implementation: extracurricular;
curricular unit; mandatory or elective courses; and school wide
integration. Essential components of service learning include
preparation, action and reflection. The service learning continuum can
be implemented at all grade levels. Research has shown that the
integration of service learning into the school curriculum is an
extremely effective strategy in meeting the many developmental needs of
all students. Service learning is a teaching methodology that
revitalizes the classroom and provides the kind of learning and
experiences students need to lead a successful life (ERIC).

TITLE: Hooking Out-of-School Youth Through Service Learning
AUTHOR: Kathryn Gibson Carter
YEAR: 1998
PAGES: 29
AVAILABILITY: National Dropout Prevention Center; Phone: 864-656-2599
ABSTRACT: Part of the series Linking Learning With Life, the writer
defines out-of-school youth as young people aged 16-26 who are not
formally enrolled in elementary, secondary, or post secondary education
and have not completed their education. The pamphlet answers why
traditional education has failed these students, suggestions by theories
of education reform, describes types of programs that are recapturing
students (full service community schools, adult learning centers,
communities in schools, and AmeriCorps), and suggestions for program
planners (including school infrastructures, partnerships and
connections, teacher training, and high quality service learning). (SH)

TITLE: Linking Title IV and Safe Drug Free Schools and Communities with
Service Learning
AUTHOR: RMC Research Corporation
YEAR: 1997
PAGES: 6
AVAILABILITY: National Service-Learning Clearinghouse, Phone:
1-800-808-7378
ABSTRACT: The brochure defines service learning and describes how Title
IV supports service learning by relating learning to developing
students' sense of community and valuing of a drug and violence free
lifestyle. Three examples are cited from a middle school, junior high
school, and public school district which show how service learning
models could be adopted by Title IV. (SH)

TITLE: Performance of At Risk Youth As Tutors
AUTHOR: Marty Duckenfield
AVAILABILITY: http://www.dropoutprevention.org/effstrat/performance.htm
ABSTRACT: Duckenfield outlines the factors contributing to at-risk
status for youth and describes cross-age tutoring as an approach to
reach at-risk youth. Cross-age tutoring projects, including those
involving at-risk youth, can be successful for both tutor and tutee. The
service-learning framework can ensure success for all such tutoring
projects.

TITLE: Topic Bibliography: Service Learning Connections to Resiliency
and At Risk Youth
AUTHORS: Robin Vue Benson; Robert Shumer
YEAR: 1994
PAGES: 18
ABSTRACT: Provides 26 annotated citations to resources discussing
service and at risk youth.
AVAILABILITY: http://nicsl.jaws.umn.edu/res/bibs/risk.htm

ERIC NO: ED327755
TITLE: Case for Peers
AUTHOR: Bonnie Benard
YEAR: 1990
PAGES: 16
ABSTRACT: Peer resource refers to any program that uses children and
youth to work with or help other children and youth; programs such as
youth service, cooperative learning, peer tutoring, cross age tutoring,
peer helping, peer mediation, peer leadership, and youth involvement.
This paper advocates the adoption of a peer resource model of education
in which schools and classrooms are restructured so that youth -- from
early childhood through late adolescence -- have ongoing, continuous
opportunities to be resources to each other. The first part provides the
following rationales for peer resource programming: (1) the importance
of peer relationships in social development; (2) the importance of
social support to positive outcomes; (3) the failure of adult society to
provide social capital for youth; (4) the value of giving every youth
the opportunity to help; (5) the satisfaction of basic human
psychological needs; (6) the opportunities to develop
collaboration/conflict resolution skills; (7) the way such programs
foster acceptance and respect for diversity; (8) improved academic
achievement; and (9) reduction in alcohol and drug use. The second part
lists critical ingredients of peer programs, while the conclusion calls
for a paradigm shift to demystify professional expertise and empower
people to help themselves and one other. Successfully implementing peer
resource programs necessitate a change in role for teachers from bosses
to group facilitators, and this is best achieved through the schoolwide
adoption – among administrators, teachers, and students alike -- of a
peer cooperation / collaboration model. Eighty references are included
(ERIC).

TITLE: All Kids Are Our Kids: What Communities Must Do To Raise Caring
and Responsible Children and Adolescents.
AUTHOR: Benson, Peter L.
YEAR: 1997
PAGES: 314
AVAILABILITY: Jossey-Bass Inc., Publishers, 350 Sansome Street, San
Francisco, CA 94104-1310; phone: 800-926-7739; fax: 800-605-2665; www:
http://www.josseybass.com ($24.95).
ABSTRACT: This book challenges American communities to reclaim their
responsibility for raising healthy, successful, and caring children and
adolescents. The book also offers a critique of American culture along
with practical strategies for uniting and mobilizing communities around
a shared vision of healthy development. The book argues that three
interlocking strategies are important to this end: (1) meeting basic
human needs in order to enhance our national capacity to ensure economic
security, food, shelter, good and useful work, and safety for all
residents; (2) targeting, reducing and eliminating the risks that
diminish the healthy development of children and adolescents; and (3)
developing language, vision and community. Chapter 1 of the book
presents the vision and the challenges. Chapters 2 through 4 define the
concept of developmental assets which consist of 40 building blocks of
human development, each of which enhances the health and well-being of
children and adolescents. Chapters 5 through 7 explore a vision of what
an asset-building culture and an asset-building community look like.
Chapters 8 through 11 provide strategies and techniques for growing
healthy, asset-promoting communities. Three appendices provide selected
references for the 40 developmental assets, findings from the 1990-1995
assets sample, and the progression of developmental assets from birth to
age 18. (Author/SD)

TITLE: Service Learning in Alternative Education Settings
AUTHOR: Susan Meyers
YEAR: 1999
PAGES: 1
AVAILABILITY: The Clearing House Nov 1999 v73 i2 p114
ABSTRACT: The author discusses service learning as a pedagogical process
for teachers serving students defined as "at-risk" in alternative
education settings.

TITLE: The Use of Service Learning to Promote Understanding of Gang
Related Issues Faced by Adolescents
AUTHORS: Patrice Paul; Kathy Sexton-Radek
YEAR: 1999
AVAILABILITY: NSEE Quarterly v25 n2 3-7; or contact National Society for
Experiential Education at 703-575-5475.
ABSTRACT: This article describes a service-learning project in Chicago,
where students from a local suburban college worked with ninth grade
students from a special academy for students at risk. Each college
student worked with a small group of high school students on conflict
management and pro-social skills. (Lesson plans are included.)

ERIC NO: ED433063
TITLE: Our Lives in Community: A Learning Community Pilot Project for
At-Risk Students.
AUTHOR: Bennin, Hope E.
YEAR: 1999
PAGES: 32
NOTE: Paper presented at the NISOD International Conference on Teaching
and Leadership Excellence (Austin, TX, May 1999).
ABSTRACT: This document describes the experiences of three teachers who
jointly taught a course entitled "Our Lives in Community" using the
framework of a learning community to structure the course. Included in
the document are the background for creating the course, a memorandum to
the dean at Prestonburg Community College proposing the course, the
class syllabus, a list of assignments, a copy of the course evaluation,
a profile of the 15 students who enrolled in the course, and profiles of
the individual students by the three instructors. The course mission was
multifold: a teaching experience that would enhance learning, improve
retention, help students understand how courses fit together, and
increase student interaction. The course encouraged active involvement
of students during class discussions and the completion of course
activities, and prompted students to form meaningful relationships with
other students and faculty, as well as to make clear connections between
disciplines, participate in service learning, and complete credit hours
of General Education coursework. Despite the extensive planning needed
to design the course, the benefits far outweighed the disadvantages. The
paper stresses that three things are necessary for such courses to
succeed: (1) support from the college administration; (2) commitment on
the part of participating faculty; and (3) an adequate amount of time
for planning, preparation, and scheduling. (JL)

TITLE:  At Risk Youth Can Succeed
AUTHOR:  Richard R. Green
YEAR:  1989
PAGES:  4
AVAILABILITY:  School Administrator v46 n1 p13-16 Jan 1989; or contact
American Association of School Administrators, Order Fulfillment,  1801
N Moore St, Arlington VA 22209, Phone: 703-528-0700, Email:
phouston@aasa.org, URL: http://www.aasa.org/index.htm
ABSTRACT:  "Skills for Adolescence," a program for middle and junior
high schools, includes (1) increased parent involvement; (2) inservice
training for classroom teachers; (3) service learning opportunities for
students; (4) community partnerships with schools; and (5) teaching
students skills in critical thinking, problem solving, and goal setting.
(ERIC:MLF)

TITLE:  Fostering Intergenerational Relationships for At Risk Youth.
AUTHOR:  Marc Freedman
YEAR:  1989
PAGES:  6
AVAILABILITY: Children Today v18 n2 p10-15 Mar-Apr 1989
ABSTRACT: Discusses results of a study of five initiatives which promote
intergenerational
relationships for at risk youth. Discusses factors involved in the
success of the initiatives, the relation between elder mentors and
youths and implications for policy (ERIC).

TITLE:  National Service and Public Safety. Partnerships for Safer
Communities.
AUTHOR:  National Crime Prevention Council
YEAR: 1994
PAGES:  68
AVAILABILITY:  National Crime Prevention Council, 1700 K St NW, 2nd Fl,
Washington DC 20006-3817, PHONE: 202-466-6272, FAX: 202-296-1356
ABSTRACT:  There are countless opportunities to integrate national
service and pubic safety, including neighborhood watch programs,
mentoring to school age children,
neighborhood cleanups, service to prison inmates, and outreach to at
risk youth. This document notes the potential of such opportunities;
related agencies to network with for such service; an understanding of
AmeriCorps, the National Community Service Trust Act, and Learn and
Serve America; a glossary of terms related to public safety and
community service; descriptions of jobs related to public safety and
community service; a directory of contact offices, agencies, and
organizations related to public safety and community service; and tips
on how to start a community service/public safety project. (SH).

TITLE:  Using Career Information with Dropouts and At Risk Youth
AUTHOR: Deborah Perlmutter Bloch
YEAR: 1989
PAGES:  12
AVAILABILITY: Career Development Quarterly v38 n2 p160-71 Dec 1989
ABSTRACT:  Surveyed 307 schools and agencies using the Career
Information System to
identify successful career development programs for dropouts and
potential dropouts. Identified 13 model programs for follow-up based on
the literature of successful programs and on statements from survey
respondents. Describes model programs, evidence of program success and
guidelines for educational program design (ERIC).



We hope this information is helpful!

Andrea Roufs and Steve Theobald
Information Specialists
Learn and Serve America
National Service-Learning Clearinghouse
1-800-808-7378
http://umn.edu/~serve

**If you need assistance implementing service-learning programs, have
questions, or simply want to speak with someone who has "been there,"
you can utilize the Learn and Serve America Exchange as a resource. For
more information contact: 1-877-572-3924 or visit their website at
www.lsaexchange.org.