Many youth service providers feel they need to invent their own unique program.  Not so.  Plenty of proven, off-the-shelf models and programs are out there just waiting for the right application.  Odds are, some of them are designed to produce the exact outcomes you are looking for.

Here are 10 reasons to check them out and find one that works for your clientele.

1. They Work. ‘Evidence-Based’ means it’s based on research.  In addition, there has usually been some kind of quasi-experimentation involving pre- and post-testing and comparisons with control groups.
2. They’re Fundable. Over the past ten years, funding agencies, especially federal funders, have increasingly called for evidence based programs.  Sometimes they even provide a shopping list of programs that they are willing to fund.
3. Just Add Water. There’s no need to spend time developing procedures, creating forms, and designing programs.  All these have already been developed, probably by someone who knows more about what works than you do.
4. Instructions. The manual is already written, usually in step-by-step format. Continue reading →