Summary

This project builds on an existing partnership between The Center for Urban Families (CFUF) and the Johns Hopkins Center for Adolescent Health. The goal of the project is to enhance the Center for Urban Families’ capacity to more efficiently and effectively document the various ways in which their job readiness program, STRIVE Baltimore, impacts its clients. We are proposing to take a three-fold approach to achieve this goal. First, we will improve the intake form completed by CFUF clients when they enter the STRIVE Baltimore program. Second, we will determine the feasibility and utility of collecting additional housing and health data from STRIVE Baltimore program participants during their training. Finally, we will conduct life-history interviews with 20 STRIVE Baltimore program graduates (ages 18-25) and one of their significant others. Findings from the proposed research will augment CFUF’s ability to highlight their successes and future directions to potential supporters and scientists who are interested in the population that CFUF serves. Ultimately, we hope that our collaborative efforts will enable CFUF to more fully describe the important role their program plays not only to STRIVE Baltimore participants, but also the networks to which their clients belong.