Youth Empowerment Solutions: Evaluation of an After-School Program to Engage Middle School Students in Community Change

TLDR

YES applies empowerment theory to an after-school program for middle school students, designed as an active learning curriculum that helps youth gain confidence, think critically about their community, and collaborate with adults to create positive change. The study evaluates the effectiveness of the Youth Empowerment Solutions program, testing whether the curriculum enhances youth empowerment, improves positive developmental outcomes, and reduces problem behaviors. The evaluation used a modified randomized control group design with 367 youth from 13 urban and suburban middle schools. Youth who received more curriculum components reported higher psychological empowerment, greater prosocial outcomes, and fewer antisocial outcomes, supporting empowerment theory and program effectiveness.

Abstract

We report on an effectiveness evaluation of the Youth Empowerment Solutions (YES) program. YES applies empowerment theory to an after-school program for middle school students. YES is an active learning curriculum designed to help youth gain confidence in themselves, think critically about their community, and work with adults to create positive community change. We employed a modified randomized control group design to test the hypothesis that the curriculum would enhance youth empowerment, increase positive developmental outcomes, and decrease problem behaviors. Our sample included 367 youth from 13 urban and suburban middle schools. Controlling for demographic characteristics and pretest outcome measures, we found that youth who received more components of the curriculum reported more psychological empowerment and prosocial outcomes and less antisocial outcomes than youth who received fewer of the intervention components. The results support both empowerment theory and program effectiveness.