Program Profile: Project Venture

This is an outdoor experiential prevention program for at-risk American Indian youth, which concentrates on American Indian cultural values to promote prosocial development and avoidance of alcohol and other drugs. The program is rated Promising. Treatment group youth reported statistically significant lower growth in overall substance use (cigarettes, marijuana, alcohol, and other illicit substances), compared with control group youth, at the 18-month follow up.

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

Program Goals/Target Population

Project Venture is an outdoor/experiential program that targets at-risk American Indian youth. The program concentrates on American Indian cultural values—such as learning from the natural world, spiritual awareness, family, and respect—to promote healthy, prosocial development. The primary target group is fifth to eighth graders, but it has been adapted and used for older teenagers as well. The program is designed for American Indian communities seeking strategies to prevent alcohol abuse.

The goals of Project Venture are to help youth develop a positive self-concept, effective social and communication skills, a community service ethic, decision-making and problem-solving skills, and self-efficacy. By increasing these skills, the program hopes to build generalized resilience within youths that increases their resistance to alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs and prevent other problem behaviors.

Program Activities/Program Theory

Project Venture includes classroom-based and outdoor experiential learning. The classroom-based program content includes problem-solving games and initiatives delivered weekly through a 1-hour class session. School teachers who are interested in the program must be willing to dedicate one class session per week for program activities. A minimum of 20 sessions are delivered throughout a school year by Project Venture staff. Students are recruited from the school-based program to participate in additional afterschool sessions (given once a week) and weekend sessions (given once a month). Participants enter the program primarily through self-selection, although program staff will act on informal referrals and provide extra encouragement for teenagers to sign up.

Afterschool and weekend sessions are more intensive and comprise the outdoor experiential learning component of the program. The outdoor learning is experienced through adventure camps, wilderness treks, and community-oriented service projects. These outings (e.g., hiking, camping, canoeing) revolve around skill-building exercises and challenging activities. Throughout the school year, students and staff work on community service projects that they can complete and that will contribute to community building (involving adult and family participation). Summer activities continue the experiential and community service activities and culminate in a 7- to 10-day leadership camp. After a year of participation in the program, participants are given the opportunity to become “service staff” or peer leaders for subsequent years. Youths who take the opportunity are then given extra training in how to administer the Project Venture program.

Project Venture does not provide a standard drug and alcohol education curriculum. Instead, the program uses American Indian cultural values to build a positive environment through thinking activities, speaking and singing, and incorporating traditional folk stories/metaphors to achieve prosocial outcomes. The key components of Project Venture’s approach are the use of community service learning activities and the use of a metaphorical “rite of passage” that builds on traditional ceremonies for coming of age. Other cultural elements consist of a holistic life skills learning approach, community building through intensive and positive peer interaction, role modeling and intergenerational community events, and indirect teaching (storytelling and metaphors) to reflect on activities and process learning.

Study 1

Carter, Straits, and Hall (2007) used an experimental design to evaluate the impact of Project Venture on alcohol and drug use among adolescents. Two public middle schools were randomly assigned to either the treatment or control condition. Treatment youths received Project Venture weekly classroom-based sessions, weekly afterschool challenge activities, monthly outings on weekends, and wilderness camp during the summer for 1 year. Careful dosage records were maintained, and youths with low participation rates were removed from the study. The control school and corresponding youths did not receive any services.

The National Youth Survey (NYS) was used to collect data and outcome measures on treatment and control youth. The NYS assesses actual substance use and related risk and protective factors. Data collection occurred three times: at baseline, 6 months postprogram, and 18 months postprogram. The CrimeSolutions review of this study focused on the results at the 18-month follow up. A total of 397 sixth graders (262 treatment and 135 control youths) completed the baseline assessment in fall 1996. Study participants were primarily American Indian (75.0 percent) and Hispanic (15.8 percent).

A repeated-measures generalized linear model was used to examine the longitudinal effectiveness of Project Venture. This analysis produces a multivariate test for significant differences in treatment and control group trends as well as an individual test for differences in trends on each of the outcome measures. Final analyses were conducted with the 260 youths (162 treatment and 98 control group) who completed all three surveys (baseline, 6-month follow-up, and 18-month follow-up). All treatment youths participated in the school-based component of Project Venture, with some also participating in the afterschool components. The study authors did not conduct subgroup analyses.

A 162-page implementation guide is available from the developer, the National Indian Youth Leadership Project (NIYLP). The guide provides information on the program's theoretical constructs, Guiding Principles, facilitator skills and knowledge, developing activity plans, year-long planning and evaluation. The appendix contains sample plans and program forms. However, in order to implement Project Venture you must obtain permission from the National Indian Youth Leadership Project at https://projectventure.org/. In most cases, training is required before implementation.

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

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

Following are CrimeSolutions-rated programs that are related to this practice:

Wilderness Challenge Programs

Wilderness challenge programs are designed to help non-delinquent or delinquent youth who have behavioral issues build self-esteem and interpersonal skills through physical activity and social interaction. The practice is rated Promising for reducing recidivism, improving interpersonal skills, increasing self-esteem, and improving school adjustment. The practice is rated No Effects for encouraging participants’ beliefs in their ability to control the events that affect them.

Evidence Ratings for Outcomes

	Crime & Delinquency - Multiple crime/offense types
	Mental Health & Behavioral Health - Social functioning
	Mental Health & Behavioral Health - Self-esteem
	Education - School adjustment
	Mental Health & Behavioral Health - Locus of control

Why might a practice's outcome ratings differ from the ratings of specific programs encompassed by that practice?