The PROmoting School-Community-University Partnerships to Enhance Resilience (PROSPER) model is a program funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Children, Youth, and Families at Risk Grant. PROSPER seeks to avoid opioid and other substance misuse through proactive prevention strategies. Implemented throughout four Virginia counties, the PROSPER program uses community engagement techniques and evidence-based strategies with youth ages 10-14 and their families. Managed in each county by a local Extension agent and a trained coordinator, the overall program is delivered through two pathways. The family-based program ‘Together Families PROSPER’ is a seven-session program that fosters parent-child communication and the ‘Life Skills Training’ taught by educators trained to the deliver the program within the classroom. The evidence-based programs build young people's abilities to solve problems, make decisions, prepare them for the workforce, and reduce problem behaviors.

Tiffany Freer, Virginia State University's (VSU) Health Extension Specialist, works with this grant-funded initiative in collaboration with Virginia Tech, Cooperative Extension Agents, and the PROSPER community team. "It's a relationship strengthening program," says Freer. "Parents and children go through concurrent trainings, then come together for joint lessons. Through these sessions we’ve seen improved confidence in youth participants and strengthened family bonds.” The other mechanism is the school system, where physical education and health teachers help families through the curriculum. "Early teen years is the ideal time to set up preventative mechanisms," Freer says. "Once they get into high school, they're more likely to take risks."

Like many other Extension initiatives, COVID-19 interrupted the in-person programming components. "The program has solid relationships and trained facilitators and educators to deliver the program," says Freer. "Then COVID came, everything went online, and we had to pivot to virtual sessions.” Extension professionals working on the program report several successes including increased trust between the community and the extension system, improved family relationships, and increased local capacity to foster positive youth development and mitigate high-risk behaviors.

In this year of the grant-funded program, Freer is focused on outreach materials to bolster awareness of the program and form more community partnerships to implement the curriculum. She's creating promotional materials and partnering with VSU's Marketing and Communications Department to produce videos and get information out into the community. The grant funding helps to expand local partnerships that can deliver PROSPER programs to families.

Part of reaching young students involves showing them what their future lives could be. To this end, VSU is hosting a kick-off event on November 5 for program participants on campus. Visiting youth will attend a football game, have lunch, and take a campus tour to learn about the University. "They'll see what opportunities can be down the road for them," Freer says.

For more information contact:

Tiffany Freer, Health Extension Specialist

Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia State University

804.524.5847 (office), tfreer@vsu.edu or tfreer@vt.edu

Program and Curriculum information:

https://helpingkidsprosper.org/

Welcome - Strengthening Families Program

Botvin LifeSkills Training Middle School Program -Botvin LifeSkills Training

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