Jump-Start Program

The Jump-Start Program is a new early intervention, after-school initiative piloted in January of 1999, to serve up to 40 disadvantaged youth in Greater Holyoke, Massachusetts. These youth are at high risk for substance abuse, gang and criminal involvement, HIV and other illnesses, and teen-pregnancy.

Jump-Start is designed to reach these youth before their behaviors escalate and to provide them with comprehensive, individualized services including ongoing assessment, long-term mentoring, educational support, skill development workshops, adventure activities, and structured recreational opportunities. The model crafts a new web of supports and permanent links that can serve as a net for these "at-risk" youth and help "jump-start" them back into creative, productive lives.