Defining Program Goals

To identify the conditions that your program will address and the outcomes it will achieve, ask the following questions:

• What are the behaviors or conditions that need to be changed?
• What risk factors affect youth development in the target population?
• What protective factors and related skills do the youth need in order to reduce or deal effectively with the risks that face them?
• What are the characteristics (neighborhood borders, age group, level of involvement with the juvenile justice system, and so forth) of your target population?

The methods that the three YouthARTS sites used to define their program conditions and intended outcomes and develop their problem statements are described on see pages 37-38 of the full chapter (in PDF format).