Children just need right options.

Byline: BUILDING YOUTH ASSETS By Jerry C. Yu For The Register-Guard

Before coming to the Science Factory, I worked at a foundation that supported organizations helping men, women and children facing a variety of conditions like mental illness, homelessness, chronic diseases, unemployment, substance abuse and violence.

On one occasion, we asked leaders from some of the nation's most venerable groups serving children and youth - the Salvation Army, Boy Scouts, YMCA, and Boys & Girls Clubs - to help us develop a delinquency prevention program. We posed two fundamental questions: 1) What factors lead to delinquency? 2) What programs impact those factors?

The group agreed on the simple yet obvious leading `cause' of delinquency: boredom. The power of boredom can push a young person to delinquency, or to isolation and depression.

The second question evolved into a deeper discussion about effectiveness. Though the agencies all served youths, they had surprisingly little evidence that their programs actually helped kids succeed! Other than basic statistics and anecdotes, none could produce any scientific data.

I was astonished. After a hundred years of operating `character building' programs, no `hard evidence' had been collected to show the worthiness of their programs? (To be fair, conducting controlled experiments to obtain such data is nearly impossible.)

Our hunt for innovative program models led us to the Search Institute in Minnesota. We invited representatives to speak to us. As we learned about the developmental assets model, we recognized its genius.

The model hypothesized that certain things (assets) children possessed internally or had in their environment were associated with healthy growth and development. The Search Institute discovered a statistically valid correlation between the number of such assets and the degree of relative `success.' The more assets, the better the chances a child would succeed.

The Institute's researchers refined 20 `internal' assets, such as achievement, honesty and self-esteem, and 20 external assets like family support, safety and constructive use of time. (See www.search-institute.org for details.)

We now had the answers: Our program would address boredom and facilitate the acquisition of developmental assets. With the foundation's support, a five-agency collaborative instituted programs serving more than 10,000 children at 16 schools. Programs were offered during times when children were prone to boredom (after school, on weekends and during school vacations) and included homework assistance, computer lab, recreation, arts and crafts, music and dance, community service, camping, physical fitness and sports. The agencies now had scientific data to support their programs' effectiveness.

Our findings? Given a choice, almost all children will choose positive, constructive activities over negative ones. The catch? Not every child has the same interests. One may like soccer, another painting, and still another astronomy. Captivating someone's interest is not always easy. This is where the Science Factory comes in.

The Science Factory's educational offerings fit perfectly with the assets model. Its programs are good examples of `asset-building' opportunities for children - e.g., caring staff and volunteers, constructive activities, and a safe environment. Each of these is an asset. Programs engage children through fun, exciting and challenging activities. While most children will not become scientists, we hope to spark a general, lifelong interest and curiosity in learning.

Using the assets as a guide, we want to make our programs stronger and more meaningful. Formal programs, for example, were found to be better than casual, drop-in ones. Cognitive exercises combined with fun activities increase effectiveness. We are working to better integrate museum and planetarium programs with classroom instruction and maximizing the field trip experience. We've developed orientation programs for teachers, and are planning outreach programs.

The Science Factory, however, is just one of many asset-building opportunities.

Indeed, each of us can and does play an important role in the healthy development of our own children and all our children. Perhaps the most satisfying aspect of the assets model is that all children can be `raised.' No matter how many assets a child may or may not have, his or her chances of success can be improved if we provide more opportunities to increase the number and depth of assets in his or her life. So let's build an asset-rich community and raise our children!

Jerry C. Yu of Eugene is executive director of the Science Factory Children's Museum & Planetarium. He previously worked at the Weingart Foundation and other nonprofit groups in Los Angeles. This is the 13th in a series of biweekly columns about developing young people's assets. See www.lanecounty.org/prevention for more information.