Reaching High-Risk Youth through Model AIDS Education Programs: A Case by Case Study.

This report evaluates the High Risk Youth Demonstration Project, which is predicated on the idea that youth-serving agencies (YSAs) can be key sources for adolescent AIDS education. When the Center for Population Options (CPO) conceptualized a strategy for bringing AIDS education to underserved youth, it was responding to the following three areas of concern: (1) that youth deserved, but were not receiving, adolescent-specific comprehensive AIDS education; (2) that the AIDS epidemic was taking an unknown toll on homeless, street, minority, and disenfranchised youth; and (3) that mainstream YSAs remained underused in the national campaign to prevent HIV infection. While many YSAs had begun to offer sexuality education, few had taken the next step into HIV prevention and AIDS education. In 1988, CPO approached three youth-serving agencies with a plan for collaboration. CPO selected the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), the Salvation Army, and the Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America to pilot-test model HIV prevention programs at their affiliate levels. The report evaluates the overall project and the emerging programs of each participating agency, highlighting program findings through a case-by-case study. The report includes a list of five references and an appendix summarizing evaluation designs and results. (AF)