OCR Text |
Show COLLEGE OF SOCIAL WORK UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ABSTRACTS EXPANDING ACADEMIC AND CAREER EXPLORATION OPTIONS FOR REFERRED YOUTH IN THE SALT LAKE SCHOOL DISTRICT Sai Samineni (Kathleen Zeitlin) College of Social Work University of Utah Introduction: Salt Lake Peer Court (SLPC) is an alternative program to juvenile justice where Salt Lake School District (SLSD) youth are referred for minor offenses such as truancy, disorderly conduct, fighting, theft, etc... The court is mediated by a panel of high school mentors w h o act as a jury which questions and mentors the referred youth. Adult advisers facilitate during the course of the hearings. Restorative justice-based contract requirements are used with many options including community service, attendance tracking, tutoring, counseling, and life skills classes. One major area that remains unaddressed among Peer Court's disposition options is that of career exploration and college preparation. The intent of this research project is to create a sustainable disposition option that impedes the cycle of juvenile delinquency in families and increases their ability to stay free of crime by providing youth with tools to gain socioeconomic power through self-direction, goal-setting skills, and discovering their passions. Methods: Identifying Programs-The strategy for finding disposition options involved identifying existing, cost free programs that would be willing to partner with SLPC. Thirteen community based science, engineering, and vocational-related programs in the SLSD area that offer academic outreach for students in the K-12 range were created as a potential pool. Program were contacted and introduced to SLPC and its goals. For those programs that agreed to partner with SLPC, a packet with a partnership agreement, example youth referral form, and a copy of the flier distributed to referred youth was sent by mail. Disposition Option Outreach-The main tools to educate referred youth about these opportunities were twofold-during the initial intake where the family is contacted by phone to do a pre-hearing social history, and at court w h e n the panel members discuss with youth the youth's level of interest in these programs. Assessment- Each youth participating in a program is given a positive means assessment with forty statements before and after completing the program to evaluate the impact of the program on their personal and academic identity. Results: It took 8 weeks to find and recruit 12 partnership programs. Youth mentors and adult advisers were educated about the new options, and nine youth were enrolled in various programs within the three categories. Discussion & Future Directions:There will be a follow-up analysis next spring with a comparative assessment of the youth's pre and post surveys to see the impact from participating in a program. A sustained or increased impact will be seen in a comparison of statements using a point system. One constraint of the study is overlapping influences on the referred youth's progress from the mentoring process with their assigned peer and additional programs assigned in their contract requirements. One area of need to be addressed in the future is the creation of an arts exploration category. Sai Samineni Kathleen Zeitlin |