The Children's Aid Society

Carrera Program Components

The model includes seven fundamental components:

1. Education: Individual academic plans for each participant, daily one-on-one or small group tutoring, PSAT and SAT preparation, college trips and a College Scholarship fund.
2. Employment: Job Club is a full introduction to the world of work, including opening bank accounts, exploring career choices and providing summer and part-time jobs. Participants are paid a stipend and make monthly deposits in their bank accounts.
3. Family Life and Sexuality Education (FLSE): Weekly comprehensive sexuality education sessions taught in an age-appropriate fashion.
4. Self-Expression: Weekly music, dance, writing and drama workshops led by theater and art professionals, where children can discover talents and build self-esteem.
5. Lifetime Individual Sports: A fitness program emphasizing sports that build self-discipline and can be played throughout life, including golf, squash, swimming, and surfing.
6. Full Medical and Dental Care: Comprehensive physicals and medical services in partnership with the Adolescent Health Center of The Mt. Sinai Medical Center. Full dental services provided by The Children's Aid Society.
7. Mental Health Services: Counseling and crisis intervention as needed, and weekly discussion groups led by certified social workers. Also, a Parent Family Life & Sexuality Education program that facilitates parents/adults' ability to communicate more effectively with their children about important family life and sexuality issues.

The Carrera program is the only 3-year fully evaluated teenage pregnancy prevention program with statistically proven effectiveness in the country, yielding a 50% reduction in birth rates in communities served. Click here to read the full evaluation performed by Philliber Research Associates in 2001.

A multitude of other positive youth development outcomes include: increased likelihood of high-school graduation and college admission; increased employment experience; more bank accounts; and increased use of private physicians instead of emergency rooms.

Children's Aid is launching a national expansion of its Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program that will directly impact the lives of thousands of young people across the country, while influencing public attitudes, the policy environment, and the overall delivery of youth services.