We know that many institutions, or settings, in which adolescents are growing up are unable to provide the guidance and support young people need for positive development. Policies that might change high-risk settings into ones that promote adolescent development have been neglected, and existing policies often diminish the viability of families and neighborhoods. The urgent need for increased support of the major settings of adolescent life as well as very basic changes within these institutions has been argued throughout. The primary institutions that serve youth—health, schools, employment, training—are crucial and we must begin with helping them respond more effectively to contemporary adolescent needs. Effective responses will involve pushing the boundaries of these systems, encouraging collaboration between them and reducing the number of adolescents whose specialized problems cannot be met through primary institutions. Care Republic is committed to these challenges.

Even if categorical systems become more effective, however, some adolescents will continue to experience problems that transcend the response capacities of primary institutions. For these adolescents and their families, specialized service programs may fill the gaps or compensate for failures in major life settings. Care Republic projects its mission, vision and efforts to provide services & programs that attempt to meet the needs of adolescents experiencing complex, often health-or life-compromising problems.

Care Republic’s innovative programs are divided into three broad categories: (1) strengthening families and communities; (2) improving institutional services; and (3) comprehensive service for adolescent development. We use the label “good practice” to identify those programs and interventions that have strong research and theoretical justification. We encourage a practice whereby our services and programs are supported by evaluation research; and new evaluation methodologies are constantly being developed to adequately assess the quality and outcomes of our multipurpose programs and comprehensive service systems.

Assisting adolescents requires attention to the settings—families and neighborhoods—that they experience on a daily basis. In good practice initiatives, community residents—both adults and, increasingly, adolescents—are viewed as integral resources who can contribute substantially to the change process. That is our “Good Practice Programs” focus on the conditions for change—engagement and empowerment—rather than the problems per se of families, neighborhoods, and young people. They provide participants with legitimate opportunities to contribute in ways that are directly relevant to their concerns and interests.

If parents are not supported, they have a diminished capacity to support their children. In response to the many issues arising as a result of family issues, Care Republic has implemented various family support programs directed toward low-income parents. Such parents not only suffer from economic hardship, but also face additional challenges arising from the lack of personal networks—friends, coworkers, and extended family members—that contributes directly to emotional distress and continued isolation from the labor market.

Our family support programs vary tremendously, but one common feature is an attempt to “extend” families by helping parents form both functional and emotional attachments to other parents. Most programs also have educational components, aimed at enhancing parenting skills, and many have training components to help parents enter, or progress within, the labor market.

Traditionally, family support programs focused on parent education, as in the case of Head Start, with the goal of teaching parents effective caregiving skills. Over time, the goals broadened to include a range of activities and strategies, the development of personal networks, and peer supports for childrearing and employment. Evaluation research indicates the potential strengths of family support programs: when programs are well implemented, they are found to enhance the emotional well-being of parents, broaden their social networks, and facilitate child development. Care Republic has taken the challenges of today and superimposed a more comprehensive model of approach and implementation of outreach to address the needs of individuals, parents…the family and community as a whole.

There are thousands of family support programs across the country, most of which are implemented by Nonprofit organizations. Unfortunately, only a small minority provide family support for parents with adolescent children, especially those in high school, and these programs tend to be taught in class-like settings and aimed at middle-class families. Some of the more innovative programs not only focus on imparting caregiving skills, but also help parents cope with stress in their lives—such as fear for children’s well-being—and difficulties in funding appropriate services for their children. Care Republic programs help parents develop personal networks through which parents can help solve problems of guidance, monitoring, and communication.

Care Republic is committed to collaboration with state, city, and private agencies as we believe is necessary, to provide the totality of comprehensive service to families and their children. Care Republic programs seeks to strengthen families’ ability to manage and to care for adolescents with behavioral and emotional disorders by linking schools and agencies that provide mental health services—welfare, juvenile justice, and health.

Care Republic initiative also extends to assist young mothers with the tools, education, training and resources necessary to thrive in a challenging world. We aim to empower young moms with confidence, education and training that would enable them to obtain jobs and become self-sufficient.

Care Republic’s “180 Degree Redirection” TM initiative focuses on delivering services to very low-income teenagers who were either pregnant or parents of young children. It links participants with existing educational and support services in the community and also provided direct services, including parenting workshops, peer group support sessions, counseling, and mentoring. Care Republic sets in place a 5-year follow-up.

Mobilizing Neighborhoods

Care Republic’s Good Practice. Community-Based Interventions and Services for Development and Social Change aim not just to strengthen specific families, but also, to rebuild and strengthen neighborhoods, as we believe that sustained change occurs most readily when local residents invest themselves and their resources in the effort.

Our neighborhood mobilization has occurred through at least four mechanisms: (1) community organizing and development, (2) collaboration in service delivery, (3) the implementation of community-based programs, and (4) the involvement of families in school governance and instruction. Fundamental to each strategy is the importance of building on existing resources and engaging the people—adult and adolescent residents—typically excluded from such efforts.