Services for at-risk youth are often fragmented or fail to address their needs. Better coordination among service providers can help improve youth outcomes, including preventing juvenile and criminal justice involvement. The latest evaluation report of the Youth Opportunity Hubs (YOHs) in New York City (NYC) provides findings on how the program is doing to meet this need. Westat is leading this comprehensive evaluation.

YOH is funded by the District Attorney of New York (DANY) County’s Criminal Justice Investment Initiative (CJII). It is designed to improve outcomes for at-risk youth in NYC by fostering collaboration among service agencies.

The mid-evaluation report, released in January 2022, provides findings and highlights perceived outcomes and benefits of the Hubs, including:

• Staff described the connection to mental health, counseling, and social-emotional supports as an especially important outcome.
• Participants’ developed positive relationships with adults. These increased their beliefs that adults are looking out for them and care about their experiences.
• The choice to fund the Hubs Initiative was seen as an effort toward intentional community building with and redistribution of resources to communities of color.

Learn more:

CUNY Institute for State & Local Governance press release: Youth Opportunity Hubs: Fostering Collaboration. Building Resilience.

The report: Youth Opportunity Hubs: Mid-Evaluation Report: Fostering Collaboration. Building Resilience.

Westat’s work in evaluating the Youth Opportunity Hubs (YOHs)