Fiver works with an amazing group of 500 children and teens. What makes them more amazing are the strides they make and the resilience they demonstrate despite significant challenges. One hundred percent (100%) of youth recruited into Fiver programs receive free or reduced lunch at school (< $40,000 for family of four). Eighty-five percent of Fiver children and families live in the Bronx, Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens, with the majority centralized in the underserved neighborhoods of our community partners: Mott Haven, East Harlem, Harlem, Jackson Heights, Jamaica, Elmhurst, Bushwick, Sunset Park, Brownsville, East New York, and East Flatbush. The remaining participants live in rural Madison County near our summer camp facility in Poolville, NY.

Fifty-eight percent of Fiver kids come from single-parent homes, with most (54%) residing with their mothers. Forty-eight percent of Fiver parents/guardians were born outside of the United States, most in countries in the Caribbean, Central, and South America, with 20% of the immigrants arriving in the U.S. within the last 10 years. Overall, Fiver participants have substantial academic, financial, and social service needs which make them at-risk of not completing high school successfully, becoming involved with the juvenile justice system, engaging in drug use, or becoming parents before they are ready.

* 41% Hispanic or Latino, 34% African Americans, and 7% multi-racial;

* 84% reside in NYC (35% in Brooklyn) and16% upstate;

* 56% attend NYC public schools and 27% NYC parochial schools;

* 61% come from single-parent/guardian homes ;

* 47.5% of the parents were born outside of the US;

* Most parents work in low-wage positions and the self-reported median family income is under $30,000.

* 10-Year Commitment: Youth development research strongly supports long-term interventions when it comes to working with children. Fiver takes this notion to the extreme by committing to each child for a period of ten years, free of charge. This decade-long commitment ensures continuity of relationship with Fiver children and their families.

* Focusing on Character: Being a Fiver means: being a Friend, an Individual, a Valuable Team Player, an Environmentalist, and a Risk Taker. Participants learn why these character traits are important and how to develop and exhibit them in a personal and positive way.

* LEARN, TAP, LEAD, SERVE: Fiver participants progress through developmentally appropriate program stages that focus on developing self-confidence, broadening perspective, preparedness for the journey through high school, the importance of giving back, lessons learned through team-building initiatives, developing leadership skills, and college and career preparation.

* Achieving Results: Fiver believes strongly in basing program development on proven methods, not simply on good intentions. Ninety-five percent (95%) of Fiver.

* Sharing Best Practices: Staff members serve on numerous committees and present frequently at conferences within the youth development and camp communities in an effort to learn from fellow professionals and to share the best practices that Fiver has developed during its first ten years in operation.

The following are excerpts from Fiver’s three-year, external, longitudinal evaluation completed in July 2009.

* Fiver and its ten year commitment to participants are providing a sound logic model for the attainment of its ultimate goals, high school completion and success in college and life.

* Across four summers, Fiver participants generally reported lower incidences of risky behaviors and higher incidences of healthy behaviors than norm groups of NYC children.

In 2008, compared to a norm group of 2007 NYC children, Fiver participants reported:

+ Lower levels of alcohol and drug use on 15 of 18 items for males and 9 items for females;

+ Higher levels of participation in team sports and regular physical activity for both females and males;

+ Better and more nutritious dietary behaviors;

+ Significantly lower levels of sexual behavior for males and females in prior years and for males in 2008;

+ Lower levels of tobacco and alcohol use for both males and females.

* A parent focus group revealed that the work of Fiver’s year-round counselors was instrumental in helping parents deal with educational, social-emotional and familial problems.

* Out of 73 high school seniors engaged with Fiver for eight or more years, 95% graduated from high school or received their GED compared to only 61% of their NYC peers.