Mission
The Partners in Youth Responsibility propose to demonstrate how specially trained volunteers from the corporate and professional fields can help courts, schools, and youth facilities reduce the incidence of youth violence and other unproductive behavior. In a pilot project, these volunteers will be taught how to use Responsible Dispute Resolution^SM protocols and advanced communications technology to train at-risk youth and their families to communicate more effectively and to resolve their disputes in a peaceful manner.

The Public Need
The public's response to nationwide youth violence has been varied, probably because there is no clear consensus regarding its causes. Some have argued for greater censoring of the content of television, the Internet, and movies. Others have sought to enhance school security systems, installing hall cameras and hiring additional security personnel. Still others have proposed legislation to further restrict youths' access to guns and drugs.

Although these ideas appear to have widespread public appeal, they do not address an underlying problem - the failure of our society to respond to conflict in a constructive manner. Thus, if any long-term success in reducing youth violence is to be achieved, we must first understand the problems faced by many youth in their everyday lives. We must look at what happens to youth in their homes, at school, and in their community - we must consider the factors that create an environment for violent behavior.

The Project Goals and Objectives

• Reduce the recidivism rate of at-risk youth by creating a healthier, more supportive family environment.
• Provide conflict resolution, anger management, and self-empowerment training to at-risk youth.
• Provide conflict and peer mediation training in a 3-hour training to the parents of such youths so that the youth and his/her parents will "speak the same language" when resolving their problems
• Provide the volunteer mentor/mediators with training and instruction in the skills of child growth and development, in mentoring, and in the mediation of disputes involving youth