Program Profile: Movimiento Ascendencia (Pueblo, Colo.)

A culturally focused, gender-specific program that provides young females, primarily Mexican American, alternatives to substance abuse and gang involvement. The program is rated Promising. The program significantly reduced self-reports of damaging property; stealing more than $50; and buying, selling, or holding stolen goods. However, it had no impact on self-esteem, grades in school, concealing of weapons, and stealing less than $50.

A Promising rating implies that implementing the program may result in the intended outcome(s).

Program Goals/Target Population

Movimiento Ascendencia (MA), which translates to Upward Movement, is a culturally focused, gender-specific program that provides young females, primarily Mexican American, alternatives to substance abuse and gang involvement. Girls are recruited through outreach by youth workers and referrals. Services are operated by the Pueblo Youth Services Bureau, Inc., in Pueblo, Colo.

Services Provided

MA services are designed around the components of 1) mediation/conflict resolution, 2) self-esteem/social support, and 3) cultural awareness.

MA provides social and life skills training as well as tutoring and homework help through its U*R*IT component Mentoring services are provided, and participation is voluntary. Program participants are matched with a mentor who accompanies them for a minimum of 2 hours a week for 9 months.

The MA program offers a variety of alternative activities such as organized sports, trips to nearby cities of Denver and Colorado Springs, and tours of museums, zoos, art galleries, and botanical gardens. Culturally diverse activities are also offered and include guest speakers who discuss different cultures.

Additionally, the MA location offers youth a safe and supervised location for all activities and acts as a safe haven during afterschool hours and weekends. The MA program also provides community education based on the need for youth programming.</p/>

Key Personnel

MA staffers are trained on conflict mediation/resolution skills, signs, and symptoms of drug and alcohol use, as well as information on sexuality, pregnancy, and sexually transmitted diseases.

Study 1

Williams, Cohen, and Curry (1999) evaluated three different female-focused gang and drug prevention and intervention projects, including the Movimiento Ascendencia (MA) program in Pueblo, Colo. Researchers used a quasi-experimental design to evaluate the extent to which participants of the MA program differed from nonparticipants on variables associated with gang involvement and risk for gang involvement. Researchers were specifically interested in evaluating the impact of MA services on reducing delinquency, increasing educational attainment, and improving self-esteem of participants. The study included gang girls (former and current) and nongang girls based on a self-report question on the survey pretest instrument. Program recruitment was conducted mainly through outreach by youth workers and referrals. Participation in the program was voluntary. Participants of the MA treatment group were randomly selected from MA case files. The nonprogram control group was selected through snowball samples using school and juvenile justice contacts. The nonprogram control group received no services. Participants were enrolled by snowball sampling, using school and juvenile justice contacts.

The total number of participants was 122, which included 61 girls in the MA treatment group and 61 girls in the nonprogram control group. Gang involvement of the MA treatment group was as follows: 32 girls were not gang involved, 20 were currently gang involved, and 9 were formerly gang involved. Gang involvement of the nonprogram control group was as follows: 32 girls were not gang involved, 13 were currently gang involved, and 16 were formerly gang involved. Baseline differences between the groups were not statistically significant. Study participants were on average 14.8 years old, were predominantly Hispanic (95 percent), were likely to have been arrested in the past (46.7 percent) and with a 2.6 average number of past arrests.

Study instruments included questions related to delinquency, neighborhood, and families, dropout status, and peer association. Data collections took place during the last 12 months of scheduled program operations To assess the impact of any interaction between program participation and gang involvement classification, the evaluators conducted multiple group comparisons.

No cost information is available on this program.

The results of Williams, Cohen, and Curry’s (1999) process evaluation can be found in the original report (https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/239855.pdf).

These sources were used in the development of the program profile:

These sources were used in the development of the program profile:

Williams, Katherine, Glen David Curry, and Marcia I. Cohen. 2002. “Chapter 8: Gang Prevention Programs for Female Adolescents: An Evaluation.” In W. Reed and S.H. Decker (eds.). Responding to Gangs: Evaluation and Research. Washington D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice.

https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/190351.pdf