YouthARTS� Development Project Report and Video

The Youth ARTS Development Project was a collaboration between the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; National Endowment for the Arts; Americans for the Arts; and local arts agencies in Portland, OR; Atlanta, GA; and San Antonio, TX.

The project entailed a national research and demonstration study in which arts programs for at-risk youth in three cities were evaluated for their effectiveness by researchers provided by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The findings of the controlled evaluations revealed that at-risk youth given opportunities in the arts showed:

• Increased ability to communicate effectively
• Improved ability to work on tasks from start to finish
• Improved attitudes toward school
• Decreased frequency of delinquent behavior and court referrals.

Read a longer brochure or watch a 10-minute video about the project.

For more detailed information and other gains made by at-risk youths in these arts programs, visit the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention for their full report (PDF, 285KB). (Atlanta p. 7, Portland p. 10, San Antonio p. 12)

For resources on starting a youth program, visit Americans for the Arts' YouthARTS Toolkit Online. The Toolkit includes best practices and information about creating and runnning an afterschool arts programs.