Serving At-Risk Youth

Adoption, Foster Care and High-Risk Youth Mentoring, in one way or another, address challenges associated with increasing family fragmentation. Social science research shows youth that receive nurturing and guidance from adults, be it as parents or mentors, tend to graduate high school at a higher rate, delay initiation of sexual activity (and other risky behaviors), and are less likely to be involved in the criminal justice system.

In the area of mentoring at-risk students, Social Capital Valuations (SCV) is proud to have the  Woodson Center as a client for the past nine years, resulting in five evaluation studies its Violence-Free Zone program, including a nation-wide evaluation as well as individual programs in Chicago, Baltimore, Richmond and Washington, D.C. as well as Hartford Communities That Care. In every instance our evaluations demonstrated that the school-based mentoring resulted in reduced violence in schools and dramatically improved high school graduation rates.  Beyond improving graduation rates, SCV also discovered that property crime decreased in the participating high schools’ surrounding neighborhood. The most recent evROI analysis showed an estimated $8.32 in taxpayer savings and increased future income tax revenues for every $1.00 invested in the program.

In the area of adoption and foster care, SCV has provided evROI analyses for a variety of programs across the country. For example, our analysis of the Alabama Baptist Children’s Home (ABCH), which provides foster care, counseling for adoptive and foster families, and homes for women with children, demonstrated an estimated taxpayer savings of $4.58 for every $1.00 invested in the program. In another instance SCV coordinated with Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO) to provide a 1st Generation evROI analysis for 4Kids in South Florida. At the conclusion of our work, CAFO’s President, Jedd Meddefind described our findings as “Brilliant.” He added,