Are youth mentoring programs good value-for-money? An evaluation of the Big Brothers Big Sisters Melbourne program
Data(s) |
30/01/2009
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Resumo |
<b>Background : </b>The Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) program matches vulnerable young people with a trained, supervised adult volunteer as mentor. The young people are typically seriously disadvantaged, with multiple psychosocial problems.<br /><br /><b>Methods : </b>Threshold analysis was undertaken to determine whether investment in the program was a worthwhile use of limited public funds. The potential cost savings were based on US estimates of life-time costs associated with high-risk youth who drop out-of-school and become adult criminals. The intervention was modelled for children aged 10–14 years residing in Melbourne in 2004.<br /><br /><b>Results :</b> If the program serviced 2,208 of the most vulnerable young people, it would cost AUD 39.5 M. Assuming 50% were high-risk, the associated costs of their adult criminality would be AUD 3.3 billion. To break even, the program would need to avert high-risk behaviours in only 1.3% (14/1,104) of participants.<br /><br /><b>Conclusion :</b> This indicative evaluation suggests that the BBBS program represents excellent 'value for money'.<br /> |
Identificador | |
Idioma(s) |
eng |
Publicador |
BioMed Central Ltd. |
Relação |
http://dro.deakin.edu.au/eserv/DU:30019480/moodie-areyouthmentoring-2009.pdf http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/9/41 |
Direitos |
2009, Moodie and Fisher |
Tipo |
Journal Article |