Spectacular results from our 2013 evaluation completed by Dr. Jerome Evans, Ph.D.

• All YouthZone clients experienced very highly significant improvements based on their pre-post screening scores in the following 5 areas: Problem Solving and Optimism; Delinquency and Aggression; Self-Deprecation; School and Community Involvement; Substance Abuse
• Those with a substance legal charge also made substantial gains in all five YouthZone Screening scales
• Boys and girls were at equivalent levels of substance use at intake and girls reduction in substance use was nearly identical to boys by the time they left YouthZone services.
• Boys and girls were equally likely to be regular users of Marijuana and all youth showed significant decline in use while engaged in YouthZone services.
• Latino youth, more than Caucasians, scored lower initially on School and Community Involvement and over time, the gap between the two ethnic groups remained the same.
• There were no ethnicity differences in Delinquency and Aggression at intake or in improvement pre to post.
• Caucasian youth were much more heavily involved with substances than were Latino clients. Reduction of use was the same for the two groups over time.
• For boys and girls, interventions that raise school and community engagement and concurrently lower substance use have the greatest promise of supporting a sustained commitment to YouthZone programs.
• Girls were more often charged with Aggression – Crimes against Persons, than were boys.
• YouthZone clients from different communities all tended to benefit equally from YouthZone programs. This finding indicated current services worked as well in socio-economically advantaged and less advan-taged areas.
• Use of alcohol and other drugs was approximately the same across the seven community areas from Aspen to Parachute.
• Optimism and Problem Solving skills among youth were lower in the Parachute Area. School & Community Involvement was the most problematic for Parachute youth and was most favorable for clients in the Aspen and Basalt Areas. Delinquency and Aggression behaviors were more serious for Rifle, Parachute, and Carbondale youths. Self-Deprecation was a more significant problem for Carbondale and less an issue for New Castle and Silt youth, than for those in other communities.
• Theft and Aggression-Crimes against Persons clients followed a similar pattern of improvement with YouthZone services.
• Trauma-affected youth have more serious problems at intake, tend to show greater improvement, but still have more problems than non-trauma affected youth at the time of their discharge.