Youth Education Prevention Program (YEEP)

 

The mission of Watts Healthcare’s Youth Education and Prevention Program (YEPP) is to empower youth and adolescents between the ages of 12-17 years old to reduce risky behaviors related to substance use and abuse or become involved in other anti-social behaviors such as gang violence and truancy.

 

Program Services

 

Educational

School Based Program

For more than 30 years, YEPP has provided substance abuse prevention services to schools in the Watts and Compton areas. Our grant funded programs target youth and adolescents between the ages 12-17 years, who are students and/or residents of the Watts and Compton communities. Some of these schools have included: Ritter, Florence Griffith Joyner (formerly 102nd Street), McNair, Washington, Whaley, and Vanguard Learning Center. For 15 years YEPP provided educational sessions on the campus of Ronald E. McNair Elementary and for 3 years at the Whaley Middle School, before the pandemic.

 

After School Program

YEPP also provides an afterschool program with a variety of positive alternative activities located on school sites and community-based centers. These activities include homework assistance, social skills development, leadership development, sports, games, and crafts. Once a month, ten students from each of our targeted schools are taken on an outing using a WHCC vehicle, to interesting and educational places in and around Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino Counties.

 

Summer Program

During the summer, YEPP provides a six-week EBP and innovate curriculum, leadership-oriented program for youth between the ages of 12-17 years old who reside in South Los Angeles communities.   This program is offered five days per week at our site. Twice a week at the minimum, our youth are transported in the company’s vehicle to a different recreational facility in the Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino Counties where they participate in a variety of recreational and educational activities. There is no registration charge for this program, it is on a first-come-first –serve basis. Youth are required to bring a lunch and additional spending money if desired.

 

Environmental

 Project Sticker Shock Campaign

The Project Sticker Shock (PSS) campaign is to bring awareness to retailers and consumers about the violation incurred for buying or selling alcohol to minors. Every month YEPP conducts outreach to retail outlets, primarily in the Watts and Compton areas to encourage them to participate in the PSS campaign. Our efforts are to reduce easy access and use of alcohol in minors.

 

Parent Workshop: Drugs: True Stories

Drugs: True Stories is a parent workshop that consists of a 30-60 minute multimedia segment along with a 15 minutes Q&A segment and a discussion among participants that follows.  Parents are given the opportunity to voice opinions and offer suggestions to fellow parents and Community members.

 

For more information, please contact Tenesha Taylor: tenesha.taylor@wattshealth.org