Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Youth Empowerment Solutions for Peaceful Communities was the pilot YES program in Flint, Michigan which facilitated the development of the YES curriculum.
The short term goals of the project were to:
- Empower youth to engage in community change
- Build the capacity of neighborhood adults to create positive developmental settings
- Engage youth and neighborhood adults in community change
- Connect youth and neighborhood organizations with resources to promote and sustain their efforts
- Create settings for inter-generational interaction
From 2004-2008, the program recruited approximately 50 7th and 8th graders each year from Northwestern Academy in Flint, Michigan. Participants completed 12 community improvement projects over the first two years, including the boat mural, the Hands for Peace mural, and the Rosa Parks Peace Garden.
Process and outcome evaluation data gathered from this program then informed the development of the curriculum.
Publications
Zimmerman, M. A., Stewart, S. E., Morrel-Samuels, S., Franzen, S., & Reischl, T. M. (2011). Youth Empowerment Solutions for Peaceful Communities: combining theory and practice in a community-level violence prevention curriculum. Health Promotion Practice, 12(3), 425–439. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524839909357316
Franzen, S., Morrel-Samuels, S., Reischl, T. M., & Zimmerman, M. A. (2009). Using process evaluation to strengthen intergenerational partnerships in the Youth Empowerment Solutions program. Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community, 37(4), 289–301. https://doi.org/10.1080/10852350903196290
Learn more about the results from this program on our Research Studies Page.
