Youth Advocate Programs

Over the past several days, America has, yet again, borne witness to how deeply its people are wounded and angered over the disproportionate use of deadly force by police on African Americans. 

The full results won’t be in until next year on Choose 2 Change (C2C), a youth violence prevention effort in Chicago. But the city likes what it’s seen so far, and is expanding the reach a model that could well gain traction in other urban areas.

Youth Advocate Programs (YAP), a rapidly expanding provider of alternatives to out-of-home care in juvenile justice and child welfare, has been named a “promising practice” by the Justice Department. The Harrisburg, Penn.-based

There’s good reason to celebrate justice system reform for young people. From the period of 2003-2013, the number of young people in the juvenile justice system has declined by 47 percent, and the number of youth in adult court has also declined.

Youth Advocate Programs (YAP), a community-based juvenile justice and child welfare organization with programs in nearly half of the United States, has received a major investment from Washington-based grant maker Ballmer Group to increase its staff and structural capacity.

In the past two decades, the number of youth who are detained or incarcerated by juvenile justice systems has plummeted, a trend largely attributable to declining arrest rates and buffered by intentional system reform.

Though the construct of mentoring is somewhat nebulous, everyone understands the concept of mentoring in youth work to mean a positive relationship between an adult and a youth. By and large, mentoring programs tend to start these relationships with younger children.

Youth Services Insider has learned that Youth Advocate Programs (YAP), one of the few national providers of community-based programs for juvenile offenders, has entered into its first pay-for-success (PFS) venture. The Harrisburg, Penn.-based