Office of Justice Programs, Innovation - Partnerships – Safer Neighborhoods

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) Serving Children, Families and Communities

OJJDP Deinstitutionalization of Status Offenders

Project Venture

Intervention:

Project Venture is an outdoor/experiential program that targets at-risk American Indian youth. The program concentrates on American Indian cultural values—such as learning from the natural world, spiritual awareness, family, and respect—to promote healthy, prosocial development. The primary target group is fifth to eighth graders, but it has been adapted and used for older teenagers as well. The program is of greatest interest to American Indian communities seeking strategies to prevent alcohol abuse.

The goals of Project Venture are to help youth develop a positive self-concept, effective social and communication skills, a community service ethic, decision-making and problem-solving skills, and self-efficacy. By increasing these skills the program hopes to build generalized resilience within youths that increases their resistance to alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs and prevents other problem behaviors.

Project Venture includes classroom-based and outdoor experiential learning. The classroom-based program content includes problem-solving games and initiatives delivered weekly through a 1-hour class session. School teachers who are interested in the program must be willing to give up one class session per week for program activities. A minimum of 20 sessions are delivered throughout a school year by Project Venture staff. Students are recruited from the school-based program to participate in additional afterschool sessions (given once a week) and weekend sessions (given once a month). Participants enter the program primarily through self-selection, although program staff will act on informal referrals and provide extra encouragement for teenagers to sign up.

Afterschool and weekend sessions are more intensive and comprise the outdoor experiential learning component of the program. The outdoor learning is experienced through adventure camps, wilderness treks, and community-oriented service projects. These outings (e.g., hiking, camping, canoeing) revolve around skill-building exercises and challenging activities. Throughout the school year, students and staff work on community service projects that they can complete and that will contribute to community building (involving adult and family participation). Summer activities continue the experiential and community service activities and culminate in a 7- to 10-day leadership camp. After a year of participation in the program, participants are given the opportunity to become “service staff” or peer leaders for subsequent years. Youths who take the opportunity are then given extra training in how to administer the Project Venture program.

Project Venture does not provide a standard drug and alcohol education curriculum. Instead they use American Indian cultural values to build a positive environment through thinking activities, speaking and singing, and incorporating traditional folk stories/metaphors to achieve prosocial outcomes. The key components of Project Venture’s approach are the use of community service learning activities and the use of a metaphorical “rite of passage” that builds on traditional ceremonies for coming of age. Other cultural elements consist of a holistic life skills learning approach, community building through intensive and positive peer interaction, role modeling and intergenerational community events, and indirect teaching (storytelling and metaphors) to reflect on activities and process learning.

Evaluation Methodology:

Study 1
Carter, Straits, and Hall (2007) used an experimental design to evaluate the impact of Project Venture on alcohol and drug use among adolescents. Two public middle schools were randomly assigned to either the treatment or control condition. Treatment youths received Project Venture weekly classroom-based sessions, weekly afterschool challenge activities, monthly outings on weekends, and wilderness camp during the summer for 1 year. Careful dosage records were maintained, and youths with low participation rates were removed from the study. The control school and corresponding youths did not receive any services.

The National Youth Survey (NYS) was used to collect data and outcome measures on treatment and control youth. The NYS assesses actual substance use and related risk and protective factors. Data collection occurred three times: at baseline, 6 months postprogram, and 18 months postprogram. A total of 397 sixth graders (262 treatment and 135 control youths) completed the baseline assessment in fall 1996. Study participants were primarily American Indian (75.0 percent) and Hispanic (15.8 percent).

A repeated-measures generalized linear model was used to examine the longitudinal effectiveness of Project Venture. This analysis produces a multivariate test for significant differences in treatment and control group trends as well as an individual test for differences in trend on each of the outcome measures. Final analyses were conducted with the 260 youths (162 treatment and 98 control group) who completed all three surveys (baseline, 6-month follow-up, and 18-month follow-up). All treatment youths participated in the school-based component of Project Venture, with some also participating in the afterschool components.

Evaluation Outcome:

Study 1
Composite Substance Use
The study found a statistically significant difference between the substance use patterns of treatment and control participants at the 6- and 18-month follow-ups. Treatment youths demonstrated less growth in substance use as measured by the four outcome measures (cigarettes, marijuana, alcohol, and other illicit substances) taken together.

Alcohol Use
Looking at the outcome measures separately, there was a significant effect found only for alcohol use. The other substances followed trends similar to alcohol use but were not significant. Both the treatment group and the control group used alcohol. The control group participants increased their alcohol use significantly at the 6- and 18-month follow-ups. The treatment group participants displayed an increase in alcohol use from baseline to the 6-month follow-up, but this level of use was less than that of the control group at the 6-month follow-up. Additionally, the treatment group’s alcohol use plateaued between the 6- and 18-month follow-ups.

References:

Carter, Susan L., Kee J.E. Straits, and McClellan. Hall. 2007. Project Venture: Evaluation of a Positive, Culture-Based Approach to Substance Abuse Prevention With American Indian Youth. Technical Report. Gallup, N.M.: National Indian Youth Leadership Project. http://niylp.org/articles/Project-Venture-manuscript-final.pdf

Carter, Susan. 2005. “Project Venture Final Evaluation Report.” New Mexico Department of Health, Behavioral Health Services Division, Prevention Services Bureau. Gallup, N.M.: National Indian Youth Leadership Project. (This study was reviewed but did not meet the Model Programs Guide criteria for inclusion in the overall program rating.)

Program Specification:

Program Type:

Alcohol and Drug Therapy / Education

Conflict Resolution / Interpersonal Skills

Wilderness Camps

Ethnicity:

American Indian or Alaska Native

Hispanic or Latino (of any race)

White

Other Ethnicity

Gender:

Both

Age:

Middle School: 11 to 13 years
High School/Young Adult: 14 to 21 years

Target Settings:

Rural

Tribal

Problem Behaviors:

Alcohol,Tobacco and Other Drug Use

ATOD/Underage Drinking

DSO Strategies:

Direct Services

DSO Intervention Types:

Prevention

Core Requirements:

Deinstitutionalization of Status Offenders (DSO)

Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC)

Additional Information:

Endorsements:

Status:

Program is in operation at this time.

Performance Measures:

Suggested OJJDP Performance Measures for the Program Types(s):

Contact Information:

Program Developer:
McClellan Hall
NIYLP
205 Sunde St.
Gallup, NM 87301-4711
Phone: 5057229176
Fax: 5057229794
Email: machall@niylp.org
WebSite: http://www.niylp.org

OJJDP Deinstitutionalization of Status Offenders Best Practices Database
The OJJDP Deinstitutionalization of Status Offenders Best Practices Database was created and developed by Development Services Group
under Cooperative Agreement #2008-JF-FX-0072.