PROJECT+VENTURE

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media type="custom" key="24419226" //** The information here was taken from the 2013 Crime Prevention Symposium Nov. 14, 2013. **//
 * PROJECT VENTURE MACCLELLAN HALL **


 * Lessons Learned from 25 Years of Positive Youth Development **


 * MacClellan Hall, founder and Executive Director of the National Indian Youth Leadership, presents on Project Venture, an evidence-based prevention program for high-risk Native American youth. Project Venture is an outdoor experiential youth development program developed by the national Indian Youth Leadership Project (NIYLP) that is aimed to prevent substance abuse by American Indian youth.**

McClellan is of Cherokee descent, with roots in Oklahoma, as well as roots with the Overhill Cherokees, who refused to go to Oklahoma in the 1800’s. Mac is a former teacher and principal of tribal schools and founded the National Indian Youth Leadership Project. He has dedicated the last 35 years to Native youth development. Mac is a graduate of the Native Teacher Education Program at the University of Washington and holds a Masters of Education from Arizona State University.

Mac is a father and grandfather and is married into the Navajo Nation. He and his wife Pauline have three children and five grandchildren. Mac splits his time between Gallup, Albuquerque, and Santa Fe.

• Classroom-based problem-solving and skill-building activities • Outdoor adventure-based experiential activities  • Adventure camps and treks  • Community-oriented service learning The program relies on American Indian traditional values to help youth develop positive self-concept, effective social skills, a community service ethic, internal locus of control, and increased decisionmaking and problem- solving skills. Project Venture was designed for and tested with early adolescents in grades 5 through 9 in American Indian school and community settings (approximately 75 percent American Indian) in rural and low socio- economic areas. NREPP* has reviewed program evaluations conducted within these settings and populations. PV also has been replicated in rural Alaska Native, Hispanic/Latino, and Native Hawaiian settings and in urban American Indian settings. PV also has been implemented with youth in grades 4 and 10 through 12, but was not studied systematically with these populations. PV can be adapted for all cultural/ethnic and socioeconomic groups. Project Venture typically consists of 20 to 30 hourly classroom sessions delivered over the course of a school year during which youth also engage in experiential games and initiatives facilitated by a PV staff member. Through these classroom-based sessions, a smaller number of youth are recruited and enrolled into the program’s community-based activities that include increasingly challenging outdoor activities such as team- and trust-building, hiking, bicycling, climbing, and rappelling. During these activities, delivered to groups of 7 to 15 youth per staff member, PV staff work with youth to plan, implement, and debrief in specific ways that use the experiences as metaphors for life. The community-based component also includes four service-learning projects per year, which are designed to facilitate service leadership. School vacations and summertime include a weeklong camp and/or wilderness trek for participants. Older high school-age youth are selected and trained as service staff, where they become peer role models during Project Venture’s yearlong community-based components. The community component can include 150 hours or more of program services. In addition, four potluck dinners or other community events for families, such as “family fun days,” are conducted throughout the year. The program’s youth facilitate a portion of the activities, pro- viding opportunities for parents to see their children as capable and skilled. - Adventure based experiential learning - Social-emotional learning focus - Skill building strategies - Community driven service learning - Culturally informed practices - A positive approach - - Classroom sessions - After school sessions - Day long weekend outings - Multi-day treks and camps - Service learning projects.
 * Project Venture (PV) ** is an outdoors experiential youth development pro- gram designed for high-risk American Indian youth. NREPP* has reviewed outcome data from program evaluation surveys conducted with middle school-aged American Indian youth and youth from other ethnic groups. Project Venture aims to prevent substance use and related problems through:
 * INTENDED POPULATION **
 * HOW IT WORKS **
 * An evidence based (NREPPE) positive youth development approach to prevention utilizing: **
 * YEAR-LONG INTENSIVE DOSAGE APPROACH **


 * VISION ** : A more positive world for native youth

- Connection to the natural world - Connection to the spirit world - Learning/mastery by doing - Project Venture experiential activities and structure provide a vision of what a vibrant culture could look, sound, and feel like - **Relationships:** how we are related, clans Importance of giving and sharing
 * Culture is prevention ** How Project Venture

Project Venture elements are Adaptable to a Variety of Prevention Fields… 1. Substance Abuse (Project Venture): treatment center…Taking kids out and going canoeing, camping…. 2. HIV (Web of Life 1) 3. Pregnancy (Web of Life 2) Instead of talking about condoms, start talking about healthy relationships…positive…. 4. Mental Health/violence Problems (Tanay, Miqmak PV)

We all need somebody…Importance of intensive consistent, long term relationships between youth and adults, older peers, community
 * LESSONS LEARNED: CONNECTEDNESS **

- recreation programs are not enough on its own - importance of thoughtfully structured and sequenced activities - Importance of guided reflection: sitting down and having conversations with kids…what just happened…why is it important…how will we apply this to another aspect of our lives. - Use of stories and metaphors to extend life lessons - Re-creating community - Practicing and integrating Native Values - Involving family and community - Gather in circles
 * BEYOND RECREATION **


 * POWER OF NATURE WORKS IN CIRCLES…EARTH IS ROUND…CYCLES IN SEASONS…BIRDS BUILD NESTS IN CIRCLES … HOW WE ARE ALL CREATED.. **

- A PROACTIVE, positive approach - Must create a safe environment for healing to take place - Someone has to go upstream and find out why children are in the river in the first place. 3 sisters are walking down a path by a river - there are a whole bunch of babies in the river - 1 sister jumped in and tried to save them all - 1 couldn’t swim and took a branch and tried to save some - the other disappeared. She had gone up the river to see why the babies were there in the first place…

- Be here - Be safe: Care for self and others - Speak your truth - Set goals - Let go and move on - Resilience/internal assets Cultural identification Pregnancy prevention Substance abuse 4-H study Youth study
 * The full Value Commitment: **
 * Have found positive Results **


 * Characteristics of most effective programs **
 * 1) Engagement
 * 2) Intensity
 * 3) Reflection
 * 4) Life skills focus
 * 5) Positive environment
 * 6) Coherence
 * 7) Community support: guided by native elders; native cultural values; positive youth development approach; collaboration

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