Advancing Health, Workforce, Academic, and Life Outcomes among Urban Youth via a University-Community Partnership: Impact and Insights from a Seven Year Partnership

Like youth residing in other disenfranchised urban communities, the health, academic, workforce and life outcomes of youth in Chester, PA are negatively influenced by their zip code.  Youth served by the Blueprints program are growing up in a community challenged by poverty, violence, failing schools, limited employment opportunities and substance abuse/addiction—placing youth at increased risk of school drop-out, involvement in violence, unsafe sexual behavior and substance abuse, compared to peers in more affluent communities.  Blueprints is a year-round youth development program serving youth who, prior to enrollment, had one or more risk factors associated with drop-out or participation in substance abuse, violence or risky sexual behavior.  Swarthmore College, the Crozer-Keystone Health System and the College Access Center of Delaware County – along with families and local public and charter schools – united to form the program in 2006.  Programming falls into 6 activity areas: academic enrichment, cultural enrichment, workforce preparation, college access, wellness, and life skills.  The cohort-based program engages youth over a period of years- from middle school through launch into post-secondary education / training.  This presentation will highlight lessons learned related to roles/responsibilities/communication among partners, community involvement, retaining participants, program content and scheduling, and evaluation, and will summarize outcomes to date. 

Blueprints is a noteworthy model for collaboration given that it has fostered long-term participation among older adolescents, a difficult to retain population, and has achieved measurable changes in short- and long-term targets that partner organizations would not have been able to achieve independently.