NCJ Number
147191
Date Published
1986
Length
118 pages
Annotation
This report presents the results of an evaluation of Chicago's B.U.I.L.D. gang prevention program, which is designed to prevent gang membership in urban areas.
Abstract
B.U.I.L.D. includes an afterschool program for youth assessed to be at high risk for gang membership. It aims to prevent gang membership by providing alternative activities and assisting youth in the expansion of their social networks. Subjects for the evaluation were eighth-grade students who attended one of the public schools included in the project. Each subject was identified as at risk for gang membership. At the end of the school year, school attendance data and academic achievement scores were collected for all targeted youth in experimental and control school. Gang membership was determined by comparing subjects' names with gang rosters provided by members involved with B.U.I.L.D.'s remediation program. Of the 117 targeted youths, five had joined a street gang by the end of the school year. Of these youth, four had not participated in any component of the treatment program, and the remaining youth had received only the classroom sessions. None of the 38 youths who received the most intensive intervention joined street gangs. Although academic achievement as measured by the Iowa Test quantitative scale scores was not significantly different between program participants and nonparticipants, there were some academic skill differences that varied according to both intervention level and gender. Program participants had better school attendance than nonparticipants. 1 table and 70 references