Strong African American Families

Support for foster and systems-impacted youth

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

We are working to address the issue that African American youth face a disproportionate burden from involvement with risky behaviors including substance use, conduct problems, and risky sex, which pose significant threats to their health, well-being, and future. Youth who are impacted by systems including child welfare, mental and behavioral health, and youth justice systems are at particularly high risk and in need of culturally-specific supports: according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration at the US Department of Health & Human Services, Black communities face additional barriers to addressing behavioral health concerns when compared with White populations due to factors including: “Experiences of bias, stemming from historical, structural, and systemic racism, and discrimination” and “Lack of culturally competent providers.” Additionally, parents can be powerful factors in curbing risky behaviors but most teen programs do not involve family members.

This grant will support P4L to implement new cohorts of the Strong African American Families (SAAF) program, an evidence-based, culturally-specific program designed to curb risky youth behaviors. SAAF was developed at the University of Georgia and has been implemented in 20 sites around the country. P4L staff and contract facilitators became certified and launched our first cohort in Los Angeles county this year. Upcoming cohorts will recruit youth who identify as African American/ Black ages 10-14 (5th-8th grade) and their primary caregiver(s). Participants will be recruited from the community in Compton, CA where P4L is based, including through partnership with the local school district and outreach to local churches, parks and community centers. Systems-impacted youth including those in foster care will be invited to participate. Each cohort will have about 6 youth participants, for an approximate total of 24 youth. Youth and parents will participate in 7 weekly sessions run simultaneously. Youth engage in activities that delay/prevent their involvement in deviant activity (risky sex, drug use, etc) while promoting their development of self regulatory competency. The program is unique in that it invites parental participation to build a strong support system to support healthy behaviors. Studies have demonstrated that family processes in general, and parenting in particular, can be powerful factors in protecting teens from both substance abuse and risky sexual behavior.

In the short-term, if our work is successful than approximately 24 youth and their families will gain skills for improved communication and learn strategies to build positive habits and curb risky behaviors.
The SAAF program has been implemented all over the country over more than a decade, and has a proven track record of supporting long-term outcomes for youth such as reduced conduct problems, substance use, and risky sex. We are the first to implement it in Los Angeles County and excited to bring this transformational program to the area. We expect to see similar results over the long-term including: increase in regulated parent/youth communication
increase parental monitoring
Clear expectations provided by parents about alcohol use and sexual activity
increase in youth goal directed future orientation
Increase in negative attitude towards alcohol and sexual activity
decrease in positive image of youth who drink increase in self pride
increase in healthy future orientation

P4L launched the first LA County-based SAAF program in 2024, with an initial cohort of 7 youth and their parents. We received funding from Elevate Youth Program at California Department of Health Care Services, which requires quarterly reports detailing progress toward the core outcomes detailed above (question 8), so we have already set up an ongoing measurement/evaluation plan that includes surveys and interviews with participants. Results from cohort 1 demonstrate evidence of progress toward these outcomes: for example, parents reported that they successfully implemented new strategies such as adding family time discussion into their routines geared at keeping open lines of communication as a strategy to curb risky behaviors, and that their youth have responded with increasing openness and communication about their daily activities. A few also reported that they gained skills to more easily have meaningful communication with their youth but still keep in place respectful boundaries.