Youth Development Program Sponsors

The following organizations and/or corporations are proud sponsors of our Youth Development Program:

• U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) Program - ASPIRA Youth Leadership Development Research Project -The purpose of the project is to expand ASPIRA’s Youth Leadership Development Model as a tool for combating juvenile delinquency by addressing risk and protective factors through the ASPIR [2]A Youth-Leadership Curriculum. The project will demonstrate the efficacy of ASPIRA’s leadership model by evaluating the principles of the model through a research-based approach.

  The program will implement the ASPIRA leadership curriculum in specific school settings in each of ASPIRA Associate Offices, nationwide. It will be offered as a continuous program where students will participate for a total of three years, starting as either in middle school or high school. It will document the effectiveness of the model through a rigorous, evaluative process. Evaluation results will help build evidence-based research and program effectiveness as a model for Latino youth across distinct community sectors and states, including Puerto Rico. A major component of the evaluation will be a comparison study of participant and non-participant cohorts. At each site, 30 participants will be selected along with a 30 non-participant cohort with demographically similar characteristics that will serve as a control group.  Both groups will be tracked during a three-year period at each site.

• Walmart - The Wal-Mart Foundation approved a two year grant for ASPIRA to significantly expand its ASPIRA Clubs model nationally. The project has four components:
  COMPONENT 1: [3] Associates’ Component - expansion of existing clubs and organizing new clubs in the state;
  COMPONENT 2: National Component – expansion of the ASPIRA Clubs model nationally (in states where ASPIRA does not operate) in collaboration with other national and local non-profits;
  COMPONENT 3: National Dissemination – with mainstream national education organizations, such as the Council of the Great City Schools; and
  COMPONENT 4: National Media Campaign – to disseminate the ASPIRA Clubs model nationally as a drop-out prevention/leadership development model.
   
•  Darden Restaurants - ASPIRA received support from Darden Restaurants to implement an initiative to disseminate its Youth Leadership Development [4]drop-out prevention program model (ASPIRA Clubs) to over 100 Latino youth organizations across the nation to promote its adoption and to provide technical assistance to organizations implementing the program.

  The purpose of the program is to have non-profit organizations across the countries that serve large numbers of Latino youth, to adopt the program so it can reach thousands of students nationwide and significantly reduce the drop-out rate of Latino students. The overall goals of the ASPIRA model are to: a) ensure students remain in school, graduate and go on to college; b) develop leadership skills; and c) develop a commitment to their education and community service through volunteering. Specifically, ASPIRA proposes to expand the program by:

  • disseminating this model nationwide to at least 100 non-profits serving Latino communities; and
  • providing technical assistance and support to organizations and non-profits in implementing the program;

This provenly successful model program is designed to reduce the drop-out rate and promote positive development and education of at-risk Latino youth through leadership training, academic enrichment, guidance counseling, and community service.