Wrap-Up
Over the past week, we have presented a variety of arguments supporting the benefits of including youth in substance abuse prevention programs. We also offered multiple strategies, at both the interpersonal and organizational levels, for doing so effectively. In summary, programs that succeed at involving youth in meaningful ways tend to share these important characteristics:

• Support for youth involvement from the organization's staff and board
• Sufficient resources devoted to youth involvement
• Flexibility to accommodate the unique needs of youth
• Clear goals, objectives, roles, and expectations
• Training for both youth and adults
• An environment of respect for everyone
• Emphasis on building and maintaining collegial relationships between youth and adults with direct, open communication
• Opportunities for youth and adults to reflect on their work and be rewarded for it

To ensure that your program meets these criteria, it is critical that you evaluate what you do, and that you (surprise!) engage youth in this process. Right from the beginning, make sure that everyone involved has a shared understanding of what "success" looks like. Then, continually assess how things are going-what is working and what is not. Collect feedback from both young people and adults, and don't be surprised if their responses differ considerably. Finally, use the information you collect to refine your current programming and do an even better job in the future!

On this final day of the event, please do the following:

• Visit the Message Board to review the questions and comments posted by participants throughout the event.

• Share one or two key things you learned from participating in the event and hope to apply to future work.

Evaluation
We have developed a brief course evaluation to gather information about your experience throughout this online event. Your careful reflections will help us improve future events. Please do not fill out this evaluation until you have completed the course.

If, for any reason, you do not feel comfortable completing the evaluation, please go to the evaluation page, enter your e-mail address, and click the "submit" button. This will let us know that you completed the event and will provide us with the information we need to send you a certificate of completion.

Click here to complete the online evaluation.

Thank you for completing this online course!!!

Resources

Advocates for Youth. Retrieved July 15, 2004, from www.advocatesforyouth.org/publications/iag/involvement.htm

Norman, J. (1998). Components of Promising Peer-Led Sexual Health Programs . Advocates for Youth. Retrieved July 15, 2004, from www.advocatesforyouth.org/publications/iag/peer_led.htm