Contact Name
Barbara Dietsch
562-985-9488

Contact Email
bdietsc@WestEd.org

Thom Loeffel, B.A., Program Director
Promise House, Inc.
Dallas, TX

For more than two decades the Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has been promoting an approach known as positive youth development. That approach is at the core of the ongoing services provided in the transitional living program at Promise House Inc. of Dallas, Texas known as The Lifestyles Program. A FYSB grantee since 1984, Promise House provides emergency services to the children, youth and families of Dallas and the four surrounding counties. Promise House was awarded an FYSB Transitional Living Program grant in November of 1990. This program has served hundreds of young people between the ages of 16 and 21 who are homeless and without resources. Our mission is "to provide a means for homeless and dependent youth of the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex to transition to productive independent living and prevent long-term dependence on social services..." During the summer of 1998 The Lifestyles Program expanded its services to include pregnant and parenting teens and their children. The expansion facilitates the movement of these young families, who are without housing, to permanent housing within 24 months. Temporary housing is combined with supportive services to enable the young parents and their children to live as independently as possible. The program directly provides and coordinates with other public and private agencies for support services which help promote residential stability, increase skill level and/or income, and facilitate greater self-determination.

Positive Youth Development, an asset-based model, is an ongoing process by which youths' developmental needs are met, engagement in problem behaviors is prevented, and youth are empowered to build the competencies and skills necessary to be healthy contributing citizens now and as adults. Youth are provided with the opportunities necessary to acquire a broad range of competencies and demonstrate a full complement of connections to self, others and the larger community. Youth are involved in the ongoing growth of the communities in which they live, becoming assets in community building rather than problems to be managed.

Lifestyles is a four-phase program in which the participants move at their own pace. Phase I services delivered at Promise House usually last no longer than one month. Applicants are screened and evaluated psychologically, for substance abuse, medical and dental problems, educational needs and job aptitude/readiness. Youth whose needs require service not available through Lifestyles are assisted in accessing those services. During Phase I, the youth are given the opportunity to evaluate the program and the power to decide whether they want to participate. Those whose needs can be met in Lifestyles are staffed and a service plan is developed for Phase II. Staffing includes the youth and centers around individual goals (such as: purchase a car, employment, counseling, save money for prom, graduate from high school, join boxing club, etc.) to be put into the Transitional Living Plan.

Phase II services last several months to a year depending on individual needs. During Phase II, educational goals are achieved, life skills and job skills training are completed, and therapeutic services are provided (including therapy for substance abuse, survivors and/or perpetrators of sexual abuse, individual and family therapy). Youth are required to participate in community service activities and planned recreation activities, and are required to work at least part-time while in a full-time school/vocational program. All activities are experiential and connect the youth to the community. For example: participants not only learn about banking but actually set up their own accounts, learning first hand where the banks are located, what services are offered and challenges such as managing an ATM card, balancing the checkbook, etc. The boys live in a large townhouse-style apartment within an apartment community primarily made up of students and young adults. The complex includes pools, clubhouse activities (movie night, sports watching parties, etc.) and organized intramural soccer, softball and football. The girls' program services are provided in collaborating community-based service organizations. Adult supervision is provided by an on-site staff person throughout Phase II.

Phase III services are delivered in indirectly supervised apartments. The apartments are subsidized by the program and individually negotiated with each client at the beginning of Phase III; at minimum all deposits (apartment security, utilities) are provided by the youth from their savings acquired during Phase II. The youth work full-time while providing their own meals and household needs. By the end of the 18 months they are expected to pay the full rent and bills. Staff supervise only to insure safety of the youth but do not live in the facilities. All therapy services continue in this phase in addition to further skills training if needed. Community services and recreational activities are also encouraged in Phase III. Participants live in "clustered-site apartments." By locating next to other participants in the program, they can draw upon each other for a sense of connectedness and support. This phase offers youth the opportunity to practice what was learned in Phase II in a safe yet semi-independent environment. Again, youth preparing to move on to Phase IV are staffed and the service plan refined prior to the change.

Phase IV finds the participants living in their own apartments, working full-time and fully supporting themselves. The participants experience a smoother transition to self-reliance through a program model that allows them to keep the apartment, the furnishings, and the security deposits when they move into Phase IV, remaining in a realistic living arrangement with long-term possibilities. They continue to have access to therapeutic services and are in regular contact with their case managers. While encouraged to continue their counseling, community services and regular recreation choices are left to them. Youth are followed for up to three years.

Participants learn by doing; making their own decisions; and experiencing responsibility for day-to-day activities such as time management, apartment upkeep, shopping and food preparation. Steps are gradual and well planned. It is also essential to develop the necessary life skills, leisure time activities, and support systems including family, friends, and community that are truly individual to the young person, that have long-term possibilities, and that are not structured by the agency.

We need to slow down those youth who are blindly running into independence; for those youth who are avoiding it, we must prepare them with guidance.