PEER TO PEER OUTREACH

The Aquarius Outreach & Leadership Development Project for African American and other ethnic youth is a multi-tiered program of services, with proven effectiveness and based on principles in close alignment with the City of San José Youth Services Master Plan (Blueprint for Bridging the Digital Divide) Aquarius will provide initial outreach to a minimum of 350 African American at-risk and/or high-risk youth, with recruitment and participation in ongoing services for at least 40 youth. These youths will be provided case management, leadership skills development, instruction in the Joyner/Payne Youth Service Agency violence prevention curriculum, and related training to enable youth leaders to become skilled and effective anti-violence advocates within their community and provide peer-to-peer outreach to at least 1,000 other youth in local churches, schools, and other community organizations. The 40 youth leaders will be recruited from two Eastside Union High School District school sites, Santa Teresa High School (approximately 20) and Oak Grove High School (approximately 20).
 
In order to firmly implant the desired leadership skills in the project participants, they will be assisted in identifying targeted audiences and providing anti-violence presentations based on the information they have learned through exposure to the and Too Good for Drugs and Violence Cultural Awareness curricula. The peer presentations will be organized into school-based (including after-school programs), church-based, and community-based venues that are geared toward and populated by other at-risk or high-risk youth. Through these efforts over1,000 youth will be reached with an important anti-violence message and the capacity of the African American youth community will be strengthened and influenced toward a more positive and healthful perspective.
 
Youth leaders will be invested not only in program services but also take a primary role in the evaluation and development of project parameters. Aquarius staff will work closely with peer leaders to ascertain which program elements are most effective and those that require strengthening within a continuous quality improvement approach to project evaluation and design. At least three times annually youth leaders will participate in focus groups to evaluate program effectiveness and redesign strategies accordingly.