Resource Binder For At-Risk Youth

Introduction
I have been interning at a regional agency that serves at-risk youth for the past year and a half. During my time spent at this agency, I have noticed the lack of adequate resources available for clients. While researching, I learned that there are many at-risk children that need extra support in order to function successfully in society. I also conducted interviews with the direct service providers of the regional agency at which I intern. From the interviews, I concluded that a resource binder would be a good tool for the agency to utilize.

Statement of Need
Studies show that there are 14 million children considered “at-risk” in our country today (Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, 2004). The use of the term, “at-risk” is generally used to describe youth who come from single parent homes, who show signs of emotional or behavioral problems, and who lack the support to navigate developmental tasks successfully (Keating, Tomishima, Foster and Alessandri, 2002). These at risk youth need programs and resources to assist them and prevent any problems in the future. There is a lack of knowledge among such youth on where to turn for assistance, and many of the resources that exist are limited to a certain number of participants. There are mentoring agencies all over the country. A regional agency strives to create mentoring relationships, but unfortunately cannot serve all of the youth that show a need for a mentor. This regional agency provides match support for the matches that do exist, and often have issues come up that need extra attention and outside sources to help resolve the problem. In an interview, one of the agency’s service providers stated that when she communicates with her matches, secondary issues often come up that she cannot help them with because of a lack of resources within the agency (personal communication, October 25, 2004). The service provider would like the agency to have more referral information available for the clients that are currently matched, for the guardians of the clients, for the volunteers that are currently matched, and for the populations that the agency is not able to serve. With more referral services available, the agency could cater to the needs of more clients and become familiar with other agencies in the surrounding area.

Description of the Intervention
After obtaining information from the service providers of a regional agency about what kind of information needs to be available to clients, a resource binder was compiled. The binder was compiled to serve as a reference tool for the service providers of the regional agency. The binder includes a multitude of information on other agencies in the region. The service providers of the regional agency will be able to use the binder to refer clients and volunteers to other programs or agencies when secondary issues come up, or when they are not appropriate for this agency’s program. The binder was thoughtfully organized so that it is easy to refer to as a reference tool. The binder is divided into specific areas of concentration including: counseling services, recreation, food/clothing, housing/shelter, and health/medical. Each division of the binder includes information pertaining to programs in the community and resources that are available. The information in this binder was compiled from visiting specific agencies and from researching on the Internet.

Evaluation of the Intervention
The direct service providers of this agency have not utilized the resource binder yet, but it has been reviewed by one of the direct services providers. The direct services provider expressed that the binder is going to be helpful when working with new clients, but the information will have to be updated often. The direct services provider would like to see more information added to the resource binder, but due to the abundance of agencies and programs in the county not every agency could be represented. Because of time, there were some agencies in the county that were not visited. The resource binder is a good start for the agency to be able to maintain an awareness of other programs and agencies in the area. The binder is organized and any new information the agency obtains on community resources or programs can be added in an easy manner.

Reflections on the Project
This project will benefit the regional agency by giving them a reference tool to refer clients to when they need extra support or assistance. It will also help the direct service providers of the regional agency by familiarizing them with other agencies in the region. Because new programs and interventions are always developing among different agencies, it will be necessary to update the resource binder. It may be possible for a staff member to maintain the materials that exist in the resource binder and update them every six months. During the process of this project, my own awareness of resources increased and I learned that there are resources available for every situation. These resources are too commonly overlooked.

References
Keating, L. M., Tomishima, M. A., Foster, S., & Alessandri, M. (2002). The effects of a Mentoring program on at risk youth. Adolescence, 37(148), 716-734.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of America (2004). Organization overview. Retrieved September 23, 2004, from http://www.bbbsa.org
Direct Service Provider, Personal Communication, October 24, 2004.