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69% Less Recidivism in NY Community Mentoring Program, Report Finds
Youths between the ages of 16 and 24 who went through the Arches Transformative Mentoring Program while on probation had a 69 percent lower recidivism rate within 12 months of starting their probation than youths who did not participate in the program.
Youths on probation who participated in a community mentorship program run through the New York City Department of Probation had a lesser chance of recidivism than those who didn’t, according to a study published this week.
Youths between the ages of 16 and 24 who went through the Arches Transformative Mentoring Program while on probation had a 69 percent lower recidivism rate within 12 months of starting their probation than youths who did not participate in the program, the study said. After 24 months, it was 57 percent. The strongest impact was seen with participants ages 16 and 17.
“We’ve never really seen the effects of this magnitude, particularly for this population,” said Carson Hicks, the deputy executive director of the Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity, the city agency that commissioned the Urban Institute to do the study.
The study, conducted between November 2015 and June 2017, looked into the impact of the program and how it was implemented. Researchers used data provided by the Department of Probation from nearly 1,000 youths who were on probation between January 2013 and October 2014. Of the group, 279 were enrolled in Arches.
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For Antwaun, a 22-year-old from the South Bronx, it provided a sense of family, he said. When he first showed up at the program he was nervous and skeptical but once they sat down for group he found himself opening up.
“I didn’t expect to open up the way I opened up,” said Antwaun, who asked to only use his first name. “The accountability is there. The support, it’s just there.”
Now five months into the program, Antwaun is set to graduate in a few weeks. He wants to continue with programs such as Arches and become a Credible Messenger himself one day, he said.
It changed the youths’ perception of themselves, said Mia Legaspi-Cavin, the coordinator for a branch of Arches run by the Osborne Association in the South Bronx.
“That’s what starts changing their negative behaviors,” she said. “It’s not only that they’re not engaging in as many negative behaviors but they are engaging with more positive behaviors.”
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