Capacity Building as Crime Prevention: Outcomes Evaluation of the Kids in the Hall Bistro Program

Research Team: Jeff Bisanz (CUP and Department of Psychology, University of Alberta), Nancy Galambos (Department of Psychology, University of Alberta), Tim Hartnagel (Department of Sociology, University of Alberta), Laurie Schnirer (CUP and Department of Educational Psychology, University of Alberta)
Funder: National Crime Prevention Strategy
Duration: 2002-2004

Kids in the Hall (KITH) is a community program designed to help youth at-risk who are from abusive and poverty-stricken backgrounds, have substance abuse problems, prior involvement in criminal activity, and possess minimal marketable skills, education, and work experience. The program is designed to address some of the root causes of crime by providing counseling in life management and career planning, as well as help youth gain the work experience necessary to find useful employment.

The evaluation of KITH was a collaborative, community-based effort that combined the expertise and experience of front-line workers, program planners, and researchers from the University of Alberta. The focus of the research was to investigate the effectiveness of the social-developmental approach to intervention and crime prevention through the KITH program.

In general, the KITH program appeared to foster some personal benefits such as improved eating habits, and it had at least a limited positive effect on reducing criminal activity shortly after youth entered the program.

Resources

Capacity Building as Crime Prevention: Outcomes Evaluation of the Kids in the Hall Bistro Project - Report

Capacity Building as Crime Prevention Project: Developing and Piloting an Evaluation Framework for Employment-Training Programs for Youth at Risk - Report
Summary of the challenges in evaluating employment-training programs for youth-at-risk, the development of the Capacity Building as Crime Prevention evaluation framework, and an overview of the measures.