Describes a 3-year initiative to provide services to underserved teens. Participant programs were Boys & Girls Clubs in New York City and Boston, Massachusetts. While New York’s clubs focused on at-risk youth and Boston’s concentrated on transitioning 13 year olds into the teen program, their common strategies included: hiring additional staff for the teen initiative; monitoring youth’s progress on a one-on-one basis; collaborating with schools and community agencies to recruit youth; extending the hours of the clubs; and creating more academic and job-related programming. The initiative demonstrated, among other things, that: (1) voluntary youth-serving organizations (VYSOs) can draw in many teens from their communities; and (2) street outreach was the most productive recruitment strategy, involving outreach workers who related well with teens and were willing to go where teens spend their time. Other accomplishments included getting frequent attendance from about a third of the teens, retaining participation of about half of the target groups, and providing teens with a high level of adult and peer support. To develop strong services for teens, VYSOs need to train staff in working specifically with adolescents, involve teens in decision making, and make special efforts to provide higher-risk youth with developmental support.
