Beacons of Hope: New York City's School-Based Community Centers.

Series: NIJ Program Focus
Published: January 1996
26 pages
56,821 bytes

By Daniel McGillis

Highlights

Most cities have areas that are beset by crime and
its related problems. Services such as health care,
employment training, educational assistance, and
counseling centers are often of poor quality or
nonexistent. Seeking ways to control crime, the
criminal justice system is increasing its
cooperation with other urban agencies to address
these multiple issues.

In 1991 a New York City Mayoral Commission
implemented the Beacon Community Center Program,
which called for residents' input into the centers'
development and management so that activities and
services could meet each community's particular
needs. A basic principle is that neighborhoods
should address overlapping needs of residents with
an extensive, but integrated, variety of services
rather than try piecemeal approaches to social
problems.

A primary mission of the 37 Beacons now in New York
is to give residents, particularly youths, tools to
help them avoid crime and violence and to solve
community problems. Among the array of services and
programs provided are mentoring, tutoring,
employment training and counseling, and cultural
and recreational activities. Many of these services
are aimed at addressing the risk factors associated
with crime and violence by strengthening protective
factors (such as bonding with role models and
developing healthy peer groups). Targeted efforts
include anti-violence programs and campaigns,
conflict resolution training, public education
about drugs, substance abuse treatment, community
beautification projects, and athletic activities
involving youths and local police officers.

Characteristics of Beacons that make them
particularly promising strategies include local
control by residents, a comprehensive program for
all ages, an emphasis on personal responsibility,
and a safe, secure environment where problems can
be discussed and solved.
_______________________________

Virtually all American cities have some
neighborhoods with chronic, pervasive problems such
as substance abuse and other crimes. These usually
economically poor communities often have little
ready access to employment training or to
educational, counseling, recreational, health, and
other services. Furthermore, these areas often lack
effective community organizations, which makes it
difficult to mount campaigns against violence,
drugs, and related problems. 

Instead, citizens tend to isolate themselves behind
locked doors--an understandable response to their
fears but one that can often immobilize a community
and perpetuate its high level of disorder and
hopelessness.

Newspapers throughout the Nation daily chronicle
the challenges young people face in communities
often characterized by drive-by shootings, crack
houses, high unemployment, and other hostile
features. Young people who struggle to pull
together the raw materials for a workable
childhood--parental love and attention, productive
friendships, a meaningful education--often find
they come up short in some, if not all, of these
areas. Often these young people's problems lead to
their involvement with the criminal justice system.

Seeking ways to control crime has also led to the
criminal justice system's increasing cooperation
with other professions, such as health and
education. Many community policing programs focus
on working with allied professionals and citizens
on crime prevention through various efforts to help
build productive communities.

In this context, the Beacon Community Center
Program ("the Beacons") offers an integrated
strategy to help youths and their families.
Developed in New York City in 1991, the Beacons
program converts local school buildings into active
community centers for use after school, on
weekends, and during the summer. This Program Focus
discusses the New York Beacons' strategy and
activities, history, and general operations. It
then focuses on the activities of one particular
program, Red Hook in Brooklyn, before analyzing the
Beacons' potential for preventing crime in New York
and other urban centers.

The Beacons' Strategy

A core concept of the Beacons is that efforts to
prevent violence, drug abuse, and other social
problems must simultaneously address a wide range
of critical needs of at-risk groups rather than
provide isolated interventions.1 Single
interventions may have merit, but their impact is
likely to be diluted by the range of negative
forces confronting those in need.2 Backers of this
approach commonly refer to the necessity for a
"full-court press" to address problems of
distressed communities.

The numerous services provided by the Beacons
include education, employment training and
counseling, and cultural and recreational
activities. These address important risk and
protective factors associated with crime and
violence prevention.3 In addition, the Beacons
provide vehicles to directly address these issues,
including campaigns against violence, conflict
resolution training, public education about drugs,
substance abuse treatment, and joint athletic
activities involving youths and local police
officers.

Some of the keys to successful development for
young people, according to research literature,
are:

o  Availability of opportunities for caring
relationships with peers and adults.

o  The existence of high expectations and clear
standards of behavior.

o  Availability of opportunities to engage in
productive educational and cultural activities and
to make a contribution to the community.

o  Continuity of supports and role models.4

These characteristics define the conditions that
many observers feel are essential for the existence
of a "healthy" community. Thus the Beacon Community
Centers also focus on bringing youths and adults
together in activities that have these features.

Activities addressing crime and violence. Services
and activities to meet community improvement goals
aim to significantly reduce risk factors associated
with crime and violence and strengthen protective
factors. Many of the programs increase community
ties between young people and adults who serve as
role models. The importance of this factor was
highlighted by Chicago Mayor Richard Daley when he
announced the development of community centers in
that city modeled after New York's Beacons. Daley
stated, "Young people get sucked into lives of
gangs, drugs, and crime because they're searching
for something that's missing from their lives. It
might be a loving and supportive family, a tutor, a
mentor, or a summer job."5

In addition to the educational, employment,
counseling, and other services that can influence
the choices of young people and adults to avoid the
pitfalls of inner-city life, a number of Beacons
have programs that expressly address problems of
crime and violence.

Anti-violence programs and campaigns. Some Beacons
have held "stop the violence" marches and vigils to
increase awareness of the problem and to
demonstrate community resolve to combat violence.
Others provide counseling to encourage members to
refrain from participating in violent or criminal
acts.

The Mothers Against Violence group at the
Washington Heights Beacon has recruited a group of
15 youths off the streets who were involved in
crime. These youths meet two times per week and
discuss how to get an education, find jobs, and
dissociate themselves from those involved in
criminal activity. Beacon personnel have worked
with the youths on their educational and employment
goals.

The Countee Cullen Beacon in Central Harlem has
conducted a number of creative outreach programs to
increase understanding about the problems
associated with violence. Youths at the Beacon
collaborated on the production of a videotape about
victims of violence that was narrated by Walter
Cronkite and broadcast as one segment of a
four-part television series on victims of crime.

In addition, Countee Cullen sponsors a Men's Unity
Day one Saturday a year. Approximately 300 men
participate in workshops on a variety of topics,
including how to control violence. According to a
program official, men participating in the program
are encouraged to "drop their masks and share
experiences" regarding anger, violence, and other
problems.

The Fund for the City of New York's Youth
Development Institute reported that several Beacons
have sponsored "If we can play together, we can
live together" sports events in which hundreds of
youths participated and pledged to end the
violence.6

Conflict resolution/mediation. Numerous Beacons
sponsor conflict resolution skills training and
mediation programs to resolve disputes. The
Washington Heights Beacon, sponsored by Alianza
Dominicana, a local nonprofit community service
organization, conducts outreach measures to prevent
gang and other violence in the community. Beacon
staff members and participants often become aware
of disputes between groups and intervene to halt
the escalation of violence.

The Countee Cullen Beacon has developed an
ambitious conflict resolution effort called the
Peacemakers Program. It has received funding from a
number of sources, including AmeriCorps Summer of
Safety, the Mott Foundation, and the New York City
Department of Youth Services. As part of the
program, 40 youths went to Bowdoin College in Maine
for conflict resolution training. They, in turn,
provided training to others at the community
center. The youths have also held an anti-violence
rally and produced a videotape describing the work
of the Peacemakers Program.

Anti-drug efforts. Numerous Beacons have
implemented anti-drug efforts aimed at reducing
drug and alcohol abuse and identifying and
responding to service gaps in the community. Part
of the success of drug-prevention efforts has come
from obtaining the participation of community
members. Activities have included efforts to
increase drug and alcohol treatment services,
alternative activities for youths and families, and
drug and alcohol public education campaigns. The
Countee Cullen Beacon has an extensive Narcotics
Awareness program.

Interaction with police. A number of Beacons
provide facilities for Police Athletic Leagues
where youths and police officers interact in
informal settings and build trust. The North Shore,
Staten Island, Beacon has sponsored basketball
games with the local housing police to reduce
tensions with youths.


Some Beacons have worked closely with the local
police in an effort to establish safe corridors for
people traveling to a Beacon. One Beacon held a
Police Precinct Youth Speakout to encourage
communication between local youths and police
officers.

The Initial Concept and Implementation

A New York Mayoral Commission, chaired by former
U.S. Attorney General Nicholas deB. Katzenbach,
created the initial Beacons concept to develop
community centers in selected New York schools. The
commission's aim was to provide the city's young
people with constructive alternatives to life on
the streets, to help reduce drug use, and to
provide a means for problem solving in
disadvantaged communities.

The founders of the Beacons felt that such programs
could provide a way to draw upon and focus the
strengths of families and communities to address
local needs. The architects of the concept stressed
that the range of services provided must be
tailored to meet the particular needs of each
community and must be designed and controlled by
local residents. As a result, Michele Cahill, the
director of the Youth Development Institute, said
the Beacons' effort is not a traditional "project"
with specified components; it is a "strategy"
designed to help troubled communities meet their
specific needs. Beacons are intended to engage the
energy, commitment, and sense of personal
responsibility of community residents.

New York City's Department of Youth Services, under
the leader-ship of then-Commissioner Richard
Murphy, funded the first 10 Beacons in 1991. A
citywide competition for funding support resulted
in each Beacon's receiving $450,000 for operational
expenses.7

Assistance in designing the effort was provided by
the Fund for the City of New York's Youth
Development Institute. Michele Cahill noted that
part of the genius of Commissioner Murphy's program
development effort was simply convincing the city's
policymakers that establishing community centers in
local schools was a "normal" way of helping
communities and delivering services.

Applicants were required to describe the range of
services their Beacons would provide and to
demonstrate that they had the support of the local
community. They were required to develop a
community advisory council comprising teachers,
students, and others who had an interest in the
community. Proposals were reviewed by the
In-teragency Coordinating Council on Youth, which
included representatives from most of the city's
agencies that served young people. The communities
selected had particularly high levels of poverty,
substance abuse, and juvenile crime.

In the first round of funding, the community-based
organizations were not required to develop
significant support from the local school prior to
applying, but this approach was changed in
subsequent rounds of applications as the number of
Beacons expanded to 37. The schools and local
school boards in later rounds were provided the
opportunity to help define the needs the Beacons
were supposed to meet.

The Beacons were funded in three rounds. After the
first 10 Beacons began operation in 1991, 10 more
received funding in 1992, and the remaining 17 were
funded in 1993. The city of New York has 32 school
districts--each now has a Beacon; 5 of the
districts contain 2.

Funding and Operating the Beacons

Operating a New York Beacon. To operate a Beacon
Community Center, major issues to be addressed
include:

o  Obtaining the funding required for operation.

o  Selecting appropriate community-based
organizations to sponsor the program.

o  Dealing with the many complexities involved in
program startup, including community advisory
council and staff selection, winning the trust and
support of the community, and related issues.

o  Developing effective working relationships with
officials and teachers in the school where the
Beacon is located.

o  Providing adequate security for program
participants.

o  Monitoring and evaluating program achievements
and problems.

Funding. Each community-based organization
administering a Beacon in New York City receives
$450,000 per year from the city's Department of
Youth Services (DYS). In addition, the city Board
of Education receives $50,000 per Beacon from the
Department of Youth Services for costs associated
with the use of school space, such as custodial
services.

DYS did not increase its staff to monitor, assist,
and assess the $18 million-plus program. The Youth
Develop- ment Institute of the Fund for the City of
New York has performed the program documentation
and assistance role that might otherwise have been
required of DYS. The Institute receives its support
from foundations.8 The Department of Youth Services
receives monitoring data directly from the Beacons;
this information is sent to the Youth Development
Institute to provide a basis for its documentation
reports.

The colocation of services from governmental
agencies, the development of grant-supported
programs, and the use of volunteer assistance can
expand the range of services provided by Beacons
far beyond those supported by the Beacons' core
grant. Other agencies that have supported program
services in Beacon Community Centers include the
City Board of Education, the City Department of
Health, the Community Development Agency, and the
New York State Departments of Social Services,
Health, and Substance Abuse Services. Memorandums
of Understanding have been developed to formalize
the arrangements between Beacons and relevant
agencies colocating services. The voluntary
delivery of services (e.g., health services by the
Lutheran Medical Center to the Red Hook Beacon) is
also important, as are the contributions of scores
of individual volunteers. In addition, donations
from private industry can be helpful. For example,
J.P. Morgan and Company contributed funds to
renovate the playgrounds of Beacons across the
city.

In an era of sharp budgetary limits, it may be
necessary in some communities that wish to develop
and operate Beacons to implement them with
relatively low budgets. Chicago's development of a
network of community centers modeled after the
Beacons will rely heavily on partnerships among
existing resources in the community, and funds will
be spent primarily for personnel to develop and
maintain these partnerships (see "Chicago YouthNet
Project").

Starting up. To implement a New York Beacon, a
community advisory council composed of a
cross-section of youths and adults, school
officials, business and religious leaders, and
others involved in the community is established at
the outset to assist in the design and
implementation of the program. Some councils
include local community police officers; local city
council representatives are ex officio members of
all such councils. Local community meetings and
focus group sessions are used to help clarify what
services and activities are most needed and to
develop strategies to ensure that residents will
participate in the program. Community advisory
council members can play a critical role in
outreach to the community, resolve turf issues, and
perform other functions.

The Fund for the City of New York's Youth
Development Institute's technical assistance to the
Beacons program includes:

o  Working with individual Beacons in the design
and implementation of their programs.

o  Conducting monthly meetings with all the
Beacons' directors so they can share common
concerns and their potential solutions.

o  Providing advice to other communities that are
considering development of Beacons programs.

Linda Pitts, a former senior official with the
Department of Youth Services, noted that perhaps
the most important contribution of the Youth
Development Institute to the Beacons' effort has
been instilling all of the programs with a common
ambitious vision--to provide a setting for the
positive development of community members and,
ultimately, community revitalization. This concept
has ensured a consistency in philosophy and broad
goals in Beacons throughout the city. The monthly
directors' meetings have helped to reinforce this
philosophy and have fostered shared problem solving
to realize the Beacons' aims.

Staff selection. At a minimum, selection of Beacons
staff involves identifying individuals who have a
strong commitment to the Beacons' mission, personal
leadership skills to help develop the program in
the community, flexibility to deal with the
inevitable changes that will be necessary as the
program evolves, and the ability to work as a team
member. Staff should also have demographic
characteristics that are representative of the
local community's population and, if possible,
should live in the neighborhood. All Beacons have
full-time directors; some have co-directors as
well. Depending upon the range of services and
activities provided, according to research by the
Youth Development Institute, "Beacons may have as
many as 30 full-time and 40 part-time staff"9 to
cover their many hours of programming. Such staff
members include local youths and community members,
college students, and individuals with social work
or other professional training.

For specialized services that cannot be provided by
Beacons staff members (e.g., computer training,
instruction in the arts, and family counseling),
the Beacons identify appropriate organizations and
arrange for subcontracts with them.

Even with effective selection and performance of
the community advisory council, staff, and
supporting organizations, the initial period of
operation can be challenging. Officials and staff
must earn the residents' trust and must work to
instill a sense of ownership of the Beacons by the
program's participants.

School/community relationships. Personnel need to
maintain close and friendly working relationships
with officials and teachers in the schools where
they are located.

One major issue that has recurred in a number of
Beacons has been referred to by Michele Cahill of
the Youth Development Institute as "the chalk and
eraser wars." Teachers returning in the morning
understandably expect to find their classrooms in
the same condition they left them the day before.
When chalk and erasers disappear and are replaced
with pizza boxes and other items, teachers are
understandably upset. Beacons have had to find ways
to ensure that program participants respect the
need to maintain classrooms in the condition they
were found. A number of Beacons have monitors check
all the rooms at the end of each evening to confirm
that everything is in order. One program has
purchased a supply of chalk and erasers for the
school to ensure that these critical supplies are
available for teachers.

An additional issue confronted by the Beacons is
whether to hire teachers from the local schools.
Teachers in New York often are eager to supplement
their incomes, at a customary rate of $28 per hour,
by providing afterschool services. The
community-based organizations, however, typically
pay their personnel a far lower hourly rate--
approximately $17 to $18 per hour--which makes the
hiring of teachers difficult because of the
Beacons' limited budgets. Then, too, demographic
characteristics of teachers are often not
representative of the local community; for example,
African Americans and Hispanics are
disproportionately underrepresented. Since Beacons
attempt to have their staffs mirror the ethnic
composition of the local community, they have often
hired local community members to serve on their
staff.

Safety and security. Given their long hours of
operation and the large numbers of clients
participating in programs, all Beacon Community
Centers need to provide security. Beacons use a
variety of successful approaches; no major
incidents have occurred during their 4 years of
operation. The four primary approaches are:

o  Professional security personnel. Several Beacons
employ outside, professional security agencies. The
Fruit of Islam security service, for example, is
used by the community center in Central Harlem.

o  Local youths. Some programs, such as the
Washington Heights Community Center, hire young
people as monitors and provide them with
walkie-talkies. The monitors also conduct peer rap
sessions to find ways to enhance security in the
centers.

o  Local adults. Some Beacons have adults,
including parents of program participants, monitor
community centers. In addition to using adults as
security personnel, the mere presence of parents
and other adults at events is reported to be
valuable in maintaining responsible behavior by
youths.

o  School security personnel. Numerous Beacons
provide funding for school security personnel to
work after school hours. In some Beacons, the
school security personnel provide protection from 3
to 5 p.m., and other arrangements are made for
evening security.

A number of strategies are used to increase the
safety of program participants when traveling to
and from the facilities. Some Beacons have
instituted buddy systems to encourage youths to
walk home in pairs. In other centers, groups of
youths are escorted home by older tutors. A number
of community centers have Department of Youth
Services vans to transport program participants
home in the evenings. Some Beacons have achieved
significant cooperation from the police in
developing safe passages to and from the centers.
Adequate security arrangements can persuade youths
to participate in Beacons' programs who otherwise
might go home directly after school and lock
themselves in their apartments.

Monitoring and evaluation. The Fund for the City of
New York, through the Youth Development Institute,
has been collecting information from the Beacons on
a monthly basis, including data on the number of
days of operation per month, the total number of
individuals participating in programs during the
month, the number of hours of programming provided,
and the age distribution and race/ethnicity of new
participants. Beacons submit weekly activity charts
that include specific programs, sponsoring groups,
days and hours of operation, target populations,
and the numbers of males and females served by each
activity. For example, a section of the Youth
Development Institute report states:

Beacons typically enroll approximately l,000
community residents as ongoing participants. The
highest annual enrollment is 1,848. The lowest for
a fully implemented Beacon is 628. Average daily
attendance at the 20 fully implemented Beacons [as
of the time of the report] is 203. All Beacons have
afterschool programs. These programs have average
daily attendances of 120 to 150 elementary and/or
intermediate school students. All offer youths
educational enrichment and homework help,
recreation, and cultural arts activities.
Twenty-one Beacons have youth leadership programs
that enroll from 50 to 200 teenagers. Twenty-seven
Beacons offer adult education programs, including
GED preparation, English as a second language,
and/or adult basic education/literacy....Other
adult programs include computer literacy,
conversational English, Spanish as a second
language, and entrepreneurship courses. Five
Beacons have A.A., Al Anon/Alateen groups meeting
at least weekly, and two host Narcotics Anonymous
meetings.10

The individual Beacons also fill out monthly forms
outlining accomplishments, issues, and concerns.
Such forms can be helpful in discussions between
Beacons' directors. All youths participating in
Beacons' activities complete a "Youth Participant
Enrollment Form," which includes demographic
information, activities in which they are
registering, and services they are requesting. The
form includes a section for a 3-month followup to
indicate if they did, in fact, take part in the
activities they chose and receive the services they
sought.

While this monitoring information provides the
basis for developing a description of Beacons'
services and the number of clients served, it would
be valuable to conduct an evaluation of the impact
of the Beacons on those who participate in the
programs. Some of the major outcome measures under
consideration by the Department of Youth Services
for such an impact evaluation include:

o  Improved school attendance.

o  Improved relationships between youths and adults
in the community.

o  Improved cognitive skills of program
participants.

o  Increased community service roles.

o  Reduced drug activity and congregation on street
corners in the Beacons' vicinities.

Red Hook: One Beacon In Action

The Red Hook section of Brooklyn has often been
characterized as a neighborhood where poverty,
crime, drugs, a lack of services, and a lack of
hope prevail. Red Hook is an isolated 680-acre
peninsula that extends from the western portion of
Brooklyn. The community's physical isolation is
underscored by the fact that only one road connects
the peninsula to Brooklyn proper.

The community's social isolation is also striking.
Because of its many problems, Beacon administrators
noted that it can be stigmatizing for children to
say they come from Red Hook. The director said the
children learn at an early age to feel bad about
the neighborhood. Program personnel noted that,
"Red Hook lacks stores, movie theaters, meeting
places, and other facilities that contribute to a
sense of community."11

The youths of Red Hook are primarily African
American (51 percent) and Hispanic (44 percent).
Sixty-nine percent of the area's out-of-school
youths between the ages of 16 and 19 are
unemployed. Only 22 percent of the children live in
two-parent families.12

The median income for Red Hook public housing
households--which comprise 75 percent of the entire
population--is $7,602. In comparison, the median
income citywide is over $34,000. The community
center reported that "over half of the households
in Red Hook report no wage or salaried income
compared with 26 percent citywide."13 Unemployment
is extremely high, and many youths alternatively
find "employment" in various facets of the drug
trade.

The Red Hook Community Center was one of the first
10 Beacons funded by the Department of Youth
Services. It is located in P.S. 15--the Patrick F.
Daly Elementary School--and began operations in the
fall of 1991. The school is named in honor of a
principal who, in December 1992, was shot and
killed in midday when he got caught in the
crossfire of drug dealers.

Good Shepherd Services, a community-based
organization, operates the Red Hook Community
Center. This organization was founded in the late
1940's to provide residential programs for troubled
teenagers, and over the years it has sponsored a
wide array of services, including counseling
efforts, youth and adult education programs, career
readiness training, and drug-prevention programs.

Good Shepherd Services began its work in Red Hook
in the early 1980's when it developed programs for
school dropouts and pregnant teenagers. Good
Shepherd personnel recognized that Red Hook lacked
many essential services, and they saw the request
for proposals for the Beacons program as an
opportunity to meet these needs through the
development of a school-based community center.

Red Hook philosophy. A community advisory council
composed of parents, youths, and school officials
was established during the application process to
formulate the philosophy, rules, and program of
activities for the Red Hook Beacon (see "Basic
Membership Rules"). At the core of the Red Hook
Beacon's philosophy is the commitment to "maximize
opportunities for youths and adults to develop
strong, caring relationships through structured
activities which would enhance skills and provide
opportunities for adults and youths to participate
in the community in meaningful ways."14

Good Shepherd officials stressed that the first
year of operation was difficult. It took time to
gain the trust of the residents and instill the
belief that the community center belonged to its
members. The program also had to establish workable
norms with local youths.

One strategy the Red Hook Community Center used
during the first 6 months of operation to
demonstrate that this was a new place with a new
set of rules and norms was to teach and sponsor
only unconventional sports, such as ultimate
frisbee. Traditional sports, such as basketball,
were not available during this initial period. And
by teaching new sports, personnel were able to
provide participants with new ways to relate to one
another. The officials reported that during the
same period, other Beacons that sponsored
basketball leagues experienced sharp disputes among
players akin to those occurring on playgrounds.

The program's philosophy is manifested in the
community center's family-like atmosphere. People
arriving at the center are warmly greeted and asked
to sign in. There are no metal detectors; visitors
are not frisked or treated like criminals. Instead,
they are expected to respect one another and the
role of the Beacon in the community.

The Red Hook Community Center's efforts have been
successful in creating a positive environment.
Since conflict is immediately addressed and
mediated, there has been no violence at the center
in its 3-1/2 years of operation. Because of this
positive atmosphere, participants have increasingly
brought problems such as interpersonal conflicts to
program staff, and the staff has been able to
intervene in numerous disputes before they
escalated to the streets.

Individual Growth

The Red Hook Community Center provides a variety of
activities and services to participants of all ages
6 days a week throughout the year.

o  The Afterschool Center. The most discussed topic
in the initial planning stages was development of
quality afterschool programs. Meetings were held
with numerous community members, both youths and
adults, to design programs and related activities.
In the Afterschool Center program, students from
the first to the sixth grades receive homework
assistance and tutoring, and there are a number of
educational, arts, sports, and community service
activities Tuesdays through Thursdays. Innovative
classes such as playwriting are offered.

o  Computer center. The community center has 11 IBM
computers. Members can take classes to learn how to
type and format text and how to create graphics.

o  Cultural activities. Cultural activities include
a movie club, art projects, dance, music, and a
guest speakers' program. The center's Newspaper
Club produces the Red Hook Youth Chronicle, a paper
written and produced by teenagers using desktop
publishing.

o  Employment training. The Red Hook Youth
Leadership Apprentice Program (RHYLAP), funded by
the City Department of Employment, provides a
variety of services for 100 teenagers, including
career readiness seminars, counseling, and job
placement at private and nonprofit organizations.
The RHYLAP participants, who range from 14 to 21
years old, spend 10 hours per week on project
activities and discuss their job-placement
ex-periences at weekly group seminars.

o  Recreational activities. The community center
sponsors a variety of recreational programs, now
including basketball and volleyball leagues,
ultimate frisbee games, and martial arts. Special
services are provided to support the athletic
program. For example, on Wednesday evenings, child
care services are available for women involved in
the volleyball league.

Family Focus

o  Family counseling. The Child Welfare
Administration funds counselors to assist families
with a wide range of concerns, including family
conflicts and behavioral problems. Individual,
group, and family counseling are available for
children and families along with related services,
such as referrals to other city and State social
service agencies.

o  Health services. On Tuesday and Thursday
afternoons, the Lutheran Medical Center staffs a
health clinic for youths at the Red Hook Community
Center. Nurse practitioners from the medical center
diagnose illnesses, provide treatment, and make
referrals to medical specialists when necessary.

o  Family Night. Every Friday evening is Family
Night so parents and children can get together to
enjoy recreational activities, games, and related
entertainment. Parents plan the events at weekly
meetings.

Community Involvement

o  Challengers Program. The Challengers Program
involves 20 young people ages 9 to 12 in community
service projects and problem solving. This weekly
program is taught by an activity specialist and a
social worker who instruct youths about positive
ways to respond to the many challenges associated
with growing up. The students also meet with adults
who serve as role models and work on community
service projects such as neighborhood
beautification.

o  Pathfinders Program. A group of older students,
ranging in age from 13 to 17 and led by two
activity specialists, engages in group building and
community service activities. Participants in the
Pathfinders find ways to alleviate community
problems and help plan such events as the Red Hook
Community Center's annual Thanksgiving dinner.
Group leaders are available to provide guidance and
support to Pathfinder members, some of whom were
previously considered to be school troublemakers,
when they confront crises.

o  Youth on the Move Project. Teenagers involved in
the Youth on the Move Project learn to be community
developers. They conduct focus groups on key issues
(e.g., guns, drugs, and crime) and then develop
strategies to address them (e.g., drug-prevention
campaigns). This effort is funded by a grant from
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

o  Community improvement projects. Volunteers are
involved in numerous community improvement and
service projects. Over 200 members, for example,
planted a garden and built safe play areas.

o  Drug-prevention program. Community center
members are active in the South Brooklyn
Neighborhood Area Partnership for a Drug Free
Community (SNAP), which is funded by the Department
of Health and Human Services' Center for Substance
Abuse Prevention. The goals of SNAP include
reducing drug and alcohol abuse, achieving broad
community involvement in prevention efforts,
coordinating across existing prevention efforts,
and identifying and responding to service gaps in
the community. Activities include drug and alcohol
public education campaigns, efforts to increase
drug and alcohol treatment services, and
alternative activities for young people and their
families.

SNAP holds meetings at the Red Hook Community
Center. In addition to community residents,
participants include health care providers, law
enforcement personnel, and business leaders.
Community center programs such as Youth on the Move
work with SNAP.

Beacons' Potential For Preventing Crime

Recent public opinion polls have repeatedly shown
that crime is considered to be one of the most
troubling problems in the United States.15 U.S.
homicide rates, for example, are typically triple
or quadruple those of other industrialized
democracies.16

Clearly, no one policy measure will reduce crime
and violence in America. Most experts say that a
concerted and balanced effort is needed and that
vigorous steps are essential to achieve the
apprehension, prosecution, and conviction of
offenders and to prevent the occurrence of crime
and violence in the first place.17

The Beacon Community Center Program provides a
promising vehicle for crime prevention (see "Red
Hook's Impact"). The centers strive to address the
many risk factors associated with crime and
violence and to enhance related protective factors.
Research on crime and violence has identified a
variety of risk factors that are associated with an
increased likelihood of criminal conduct by an
individual. Studies have also identified a number
of protective factors that, when present, provide
individuals with resiliency to keep away from crime
and violence.18

The services and activities of the Beacons have the
potential to strengthen protective factors (e.g.,
encouraging bonding with role models, developing
healthy peer groups, and internalizing of clear
standards for behavior) and reduce risk factors
(e.g., through reduction of alienation, educational
assistance to improve school achievement, and
improvement of community norms). In combination,
these services and activities may lead individuals
to avoid crime and violence who might otherwise be
enticed to commit illegal acts.

Since the programs do much of their work with young
children, the actual impact on crime may not emerge
for years. The Beacons' efforts to improve
parenting may help to break cycles of violence in
which abused children later become violent
offenders,19 but here, too, the passage of time is
also required to observe such effects. Some other
program efforts directly targeted on crime (e.g.,
anti-violence campaigns and drug-prevention
programs) may have a more immediate impact. This
view led the United States Congress to fund
community school efforts as part of the 1994 Crime
Bill, and the Department of Health and Human
Services provided grants to 48 community school
programs during the summer of 1995.

A number of features of Beacon Community Centers
make them particularly promising:

o  Local control. Beacons are operated in
neighborhoods by community-based organizations and
are guided by the advice of local citizens. The
centers can shape their programs to the specific
needs of each area and can provide a forum for
problem solving by residents. They can increase
pride in the community and the realization by local
citizens that improvements are possible.

o  Comprehensive approach. Beacons provide a
multitude of services and activities that can
foster high, and sometimes unprecedented, levels of
interagency cooperation. The Beacons' many
intervention approaches have the potential to
improve individual attitudes and community norms.

o  Emphasis on personal responsibility. The Beacons
provide citizens with opportunities to seize
greater control of their lives through education,
employment training, cultural activities, and
community service. Instead of just giving community
residents a handout, the Beacons provide
participants with the means to better manage
important facets of their lives.

o  Role as a beachhead. Beacons serve as a
beachhead in the community for service delivery,
problem solving, and, more importantly, hope. They
have a high "tangibility quotient" since they are
much more than a concept discussed by planners and
policymakers. Housed in local school buildings,
their lights are on throughout the year, including
nights and weekends. These lights in troubled
communities attract the energy of local citizens
and other organizations and expand outward from
their base.

o  Capacity to address both short- and long-term
responses to crime. Beacons provide a vehicle for
rapid responses to local crises (e.g., intervening
in simmering gang conflicts and conducting
anti-violence vigils) and can also address
underlying long-term risk factors through
education, employment training, and other efforts.

Challenges To Expanding Beacons 

Despite the many promising features of Beacons,
they are not easy to implement or to maintain over
time. Major challenges include:

o  Program development. Since Beacons are ambitious
efforts, they need diligent leaders to address the
many problems that inevitably arise. Community
advisory councils and staff members need to be
selected carefully to ensure that they can earn the
trust and respect of local adults and youths. The
relationship between the Beacons and local schools
needs to be nurtured to avoid the so-called "chalk
and eraser wars." Rules for Beacon participants
need to be crafted carefully to avoid problems, and
security arrangements need to be well thought out
and implemented.

o  Administering the programs. Nonprofit
organizations that have operated New York Beacons
include local service organizations, community
development corporations, and community advocacy
groups. Linda Pitts, a former official with the
Department of Youth Services involved in the design
and operation of the program, noted that it is
important to select organizations that have track
records in delivering services and conducting a
range of community activities. She said that
organizations involved primarily in the conduct of
training and workshops but with no experience in
conducting the range of activities associated with
Beacons have experienced difficulties in program
operation. In cities that do not have an
organization like the Youth Development Institute
to provide technical assistance and program
documentation, consideration needs to be given on
how to obtain such services.

o  Obtaining and maintaining adequate funding. In
an era of sharp budgetary cutbacks at all levels of
government, the task of obtaining initial funding
for Beacons and maintaining it could be difficult.
The case needs to be made that such programs, when
properly implemented, provide valuable services to
members of the community and also have the
potential to address the severe, high-priority
problems of crime, violence, and drugs.

Measuring the impact that programs like the Beacons
have on crime is always a challenging task. The
presence of other events in a given geographical
area (e.g., implementation of community policing
and changes in school programs), as well as changes
in the overall economy and other societal factors,
make it difficult to disentangle the specific
reasons for changes in crime levels. Research can
focus upon drug activity and related problems in
the immediate vicinity of the Beacons and perhaps
demonstrate a reduction in problems over time that
is attributable to the work of the program.

Beacon Community Centers have the potential to
provide hope in communities that traditionally lack
any sense of control or optimism for the future.
The mayor and other policymakers in New York City
have shown considerable vision and courage in their
vigorous ongoing support of these programs. Leaders
in other communities should give careful
consideration to whether comparable programs can
provide important avenues for residents to escape
the current problems confronted by many inner-city
communities.
-------------------------------------------
Additional Information

Chicago YouthNet Project

Chicago is creating a series of community centers
modeled on the Beacons but with some modifications.
The community centers are being developed in
response to a recommendation by Chicago's Youth
Development Task Force, which was commissioned by
the mayor and chaired by the president of the
members, and academics. The MacArthur Foundation
served as the task force's secretariat. The task
force conducted investigations for 1 year and held
intensive community meetings organized by youths in
four neighborhoods. The resulting plan released in
mid-1994 provided a detailed blueprint to address
the problem of reducing risk factors confronting
local youths. In December 1994 Chicago Mayor
Richard Daley announced plans to develop the
initial 6 centers. The city plans eventually to
open similar centers in all 25 Chicago police
districts.

These Chicago YouthNet Centers, as they are called,
will provide a similar array of services to those
provided by the New York Beacons, but they will
differ from the Beacons in significant respects.
Centers will be located not only in school
buildings but also in other community facilities,
such as recreation centers (e.g., YMCA's). Second,
limited funding is being provided for the effort
that will work to develop partnerships across
existing resources in the selected neighborhoods.
Third, some of the YouthNet Centers will have
smaller affiliated satellite facilities in the
neighborhood to coordinate service delivery with
the center. The program in Chicago's West Town
community will use 10 different neighborhood
facilities to deliver services. Satellite
facilities used by some of the YouthNet programs
include churches, town halls, local health centers,
settlement houses, and child care centers.
---------------------------------------------
Basic Membership Rules

The community advisory council and staff of the
Red Hook Community Center have developed six basic
rules:

1. Persons participating in the center's
activities must register as a member of the
Beacon.

2. Members must carry their identification cards
and show them at the door every time they come to
the center.

3. To ensure the safety and enjoyment of members,
the center does not allow alcohol, drugs, weapons,
beepers, radios, or smoking in the building.

4. Eating and drinking are only allowed in
specified areas of the center.

5. Members must sign into a specific program
activity when they arrive at the center. Members
are not allowed to hang out in the halls or walk
around the building.

6. Members are expected to be respectful of
others, their property, and the building.
----------------------------------------
Red Hook's Impact

A formal impact evaluation of the work of the Red
Hook Community Center has not been conducted. The
data currently being collected by the Department
of Youth Services document the processes of the
program (e.g., numbers and types of clients and
types of services provided) but not the impact of
the Beacon. Although an empirical study of the
program's impact would be valuable, some
indicators of the Red Hook Beacon's effect on
participants' lives are available. In the December
1994 issue of the Red Hook Youth Chronicle, two
participants reflected upon the role of the
community center in their lives.

One 13-year-old who had lived her entire life in
Red Hook stated:

While growing up, I have seen many acts of
violence....Late at night, we would hear gunshots
and wonder whose life had been taken away. Many
times, I didn't want to go outside because I was
afraid I would get hurt. In November of 1991, my
life changed. I became a member of the Red Hook
Community Center. As a member, I was safe from the
random violence that had taken the lives of so
many people. I learned that I am an important part
of my community, and every positive thing I did
reflected on my community....In my opinion, my
neighborhood has changed for the better. There are
not as many teenagers hanging out on the corners
because most of them are at the center....In the
future, I hope to give back to my community by
becoming a counselor at the center.

Another teenager expressed similar sentiments:

In our leadership class at the center, we spoke
about the youth programs that closed due to budget
cuts. The community center and the Police Athletic
League are like drops of sunshine in my life. My
father's not rich and can't afford to send me to
"country clubs" or camps. This is it! Please don't
take them away.
-----------------------------------------------

Sources On Other School-Based Reforms

The recently released book Full-Service Schools,
by Joy Dryfoos, presents a wealth of information
on programs across the Nation that provide health
and social services as well as recreational
opportunities in local schools. These full-service
school programs typically provide services during
and after school and focus solely upon the
students in each school. They do not serve as
community centers like the Beacons.

Dryfoos provides informative profiles of efforts
in 12 States--Arkansas, California, Connecticut,
Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Massachusetts,
Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, and
Oregon--to illustrate that there is a need for
school-based services.

The Children's Aid Society of New York sponsors an
impressive and well-funded program in Washington
Heights that is independent of the Beacons
program. The Society's reports--"Building a
Community School: A Revolutionary Design in Public
Education" and "A Unique Partnership: The Story of
a Community School"--discuss the design and
implementation of the program at length. Joy
Dryfoos identifies the New York Children's Aid
Society program, along with one in Modesto,
California, as perhaps the two most comprehensive
full-service schools in the Nation. These programs
not only provide a range of afterschool activities
but also have such features as dramatically
reformed school curriculums, onsite health and
dental clinics, new buildings specifically
designed to deliver the services, and related
special characteristics.
-------------------------------------------

About This Study

This Program Focus was written by Daniel McGillis,
Ph.D., Senior Research Associate at Abt Associates
Inc. During the author's site visit to the Beacons
program, he met with Michele Cahill and Arva Rice
of the Fund for the City of New York's Youth
Development Institute; Linda Pitts, a former
senior official with the New York City Department
of Youth Services; and the directors and staff of
the Washington Heights, Central Harlem, Red Hook,
and Sunset Park Beacons. The assistance of all of
these individuals is gratefully acknowledged. For
further information about the Beacons, contact
Michele Cahill or Arva Rice, Youth Development
Institute, Fund for the City of New York, 121
Sixth Avenue, New York, New York 10013-1505.
-----------------------------------------------
Notes

1 Partnerships Against Violence: Promising Programs
Resource Guide, Volume 1, Washington, D.C.: U.S.
Department of Justice, 1994. This reference
includes a catalog of over 600 anti-violence
programs. Call the National Criminal Justice
Reference Service, 800-851-3420, to obtain
information on purchasing this document or
accessing the data on the Internet. Wilson-Brewer,
Renee, Stu Cohen, Lydia O'Donnell, and Irene
Goodman, Violence Prevention for Young Adolescents:
A Survey of the State of the Art, Washington, D.C.:
The Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development,
1991.

2 Reiss, Albert, and Jeffrey Roth (eds.),
Understanding and Preventing Violence, Washington,
D.C.: National Academy Press, 1993.

3 Buka, Stephen, and Felton Earls, "Early
Determinants of Delinquency and Violence," Health
Affairs (Winter 1993); and Developmental Research
and Programs, Inc., Communities that Care:
Risk-Focused Prevention Using the Social
Development Strategy, Seattle, WA: Developmental
Research and Programs, Inc., 1993.

4 The report entitled "A Documentation Report on
the New York City Beacons Initiative" by Michele
Cahill, Jacqueline Perry, Marlene Wright, and Arva
Rice of the Youth Development Institute of the Fund
for the City of New York, provides an interesting
discussion of factors associated with healthy
development and their relevance to the Beacons.
Copies of the report are available from the Youth
Development Institute, Fund for the City of New
York, 121 Sixth Avenue, New York, New York 10013.
This report is referred to as "Documentation
Report" in subsequent notes.

5 Spielman, Fran, "Daley Picks 6 Sites for Youth
Centers," Chicago Sun Times, December 7, 1994.

6 Documentation Report.

7 The city had originally planned to provide over
$800,000 per Beacon, but this higher budget level
was reduced because of general constraints on the
city's budget.

8 The Youth Development Institute receives funding
from the Annie Casey Foundation, the Aaron Diamond
Foundation, and the Joseph E. Seagrams and Sons
Foundation.

9 Documentation Report.

10 For copies of the report, contact the Youth
Development Institute at the address cited in note
4.

11 Lynch, Jo Ellen, Memorandum to Dan McGillis on
the Red Hook Beacon, February 9, 1995.

12 Document entitled "Red Hook Profile" prepared by
the Red Hook Community Center.

13 "Red Hook Profile." 

14 Lynch, Memorandum.

15 The ABC/Washington Post periodic survey of 1,500
adults has repeatedly placed crime in the top two
concerns of those interviewed during 1995 (e.g.,
see ABC/Washington Post survey data released March
20, 1995).

16 For example, see Fingerhut, Lois, and Joel
Kleinman, "International and Interstate
Comparisons of Homicide Among Young Males," JAMA
263, 24 (June 27, 1990).

17 Wilson, John, and James Howell, Comprehensive
Strategy for Serious, Violent, and Chronic
Juvenile Offenders, Washington, D.C.: U.S.
Department of Justice, 1994.

18 Buka and Earl, "Early Determinants of
Delinquency and Violence"; and Develop-mental
Research and Programs, Communities that Care:
Risk-Focused Prevention Using the Social
Development Strategy.

19 Widom, Cathy Spatz, The Cycle of Vio-lence,
National Institute of Justice Research in Brief,
Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice,
October 1992.

The National Institute of Justice is a component of
the Office of Justice Programs, which also includes
the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Bureau of Justice
Statistics, Office of Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Prevention, and the Office for Victims
of Crime.

Points of view or opinions stated in this document
are those of the author and do not necessarily
represent the official position or policies of the
U.S. Department of Justice.

NCJ 157667     January 1996