Following its designation as a National 4-H Program of Distinction, Penn State’s PROSPER program received a $15,000 Strengthening Families Award at the National Association of Extension 4-H agents meeting in Atlanta, Georgia. Through a partnership between the National 4-H Council and the Annie E. Casey Foundation, five outstanding 4-H youth development programs are recognized anually for innovative programming that improves outcomes for rural, disadvantaged families by fostering social networks, economic opportunities, services and support that families need to be successful.

Dr. Claudia Mincemoyer and Dr. Daniel Perkins, faculty members in Penn State’s Department of Agricultural and Extension of Education, provide leadership for the PROSPER program. Statewide, PROSPER reaches about 6,000 youth in sevel school districts: Bradford, West Perry, Littlestown, Carbondale, Jim Thorpe, Salisbury, and Wyoming Valley West. In each location, a local community team led by an extension educator oversees project activities to assure that programs we well received within schools and communities and implemented with the highest quality to assure maximum positive impact.

PROSPER uses the partnership model to reduce rates of youth substance use and other problem behaviors and to foster positive youth development. These goals are accomplished through teaching skills that foster improved family life and partent-child communication along with providing students with skils for planning, problem solving and peer resistance against problem behaviors.

Studies show PROSPER participants are less prone than non-participants to youthful experimenting with drugs, tobacco, or alcohol and less likely to have used marijuana or inhalants in the last year. Recent economic studies also show that this type prevention program is cost-effective to communities. “Because there is less need for the use of the court system and drug and alcohol rehabilitation services, PROSPER communities are saving money,” says Mark Greenberg, distinguished professor and prevention scientist at Penn State and co-principal investigator for the project. “For every dollar the community spends on prevention programming, they are potentially saving $9.60 in related services.”

Early results from the PROSPER study indicate that youth who participated in the programs report their parents are using improved child management techinques (e.g., effective discipline) as compared to youth not in the program. In addition, youth reported stronger skills such as refusing to use substances, greater intention to avoid substance use, and improved problem solving.