The Ada Sheriffs Youth Foundation: The development of a decentralized youth program

This article describes the Ada Sheriffs Youth Foundation (SYF), a program that provides after-school enrichment activities carried out by individual schools. At the time of evaluation, the Foundation had organized early intervention action (EIA) teams in thirty-one elementary schools. The teams identified and linked troubled youth to local community programs. The program, similar in principle to comprehensive prevention programs, differed in that decision making about participants was decentralized, youth were not grouped, and the participants themselves decided what programs they wanted to participate in. An analysis of youths' at-risk scores before and after program participation showed significant improvement in many dimensions of risk. The article concludes with a discussion of issues related to the integrity of program delivery.