| dc.description | This project aimed to identify barriers to participation in NYCOBS’s Crew Orientation program
for urban high school students and to suggest strategies for increasing student participation.
Through focus groups with students at two of the participating schools, the main barriers
identified included concerns for physical safety, concerns for emotional safety, and language
barriers in communicating with families. NYCOBS takes extensive measures to minimizing
emotional and physical risks to participants, but cannot eliminate risk entirely. In spite of risk
and fears, students are overwhelmingly glad to participate in Crew Orientation and recognize the
program’s value. In order to effectively communicate the risk prevention measures taken, and the
value of facing fears to achieve personal growth, NYCOBS should leverage the key influences to
decision-making
identified through focus groups: peers and Crew Orientation alumni, teachers,
and families. It is imperative that teachers, who have extensive contact with students, encourage
participation in Crew Orientation. This project also identified student peers and Crew Orientation
alumni as a valuable and underutilized
resource in outreach to students and families. By
systematic leveraging of highly influential peers and Crew Orientation alumni, NYCOBS can
overcome language barriers to message honestly the value of overcoming fears and concerns in
order to achieve personal growth. | en_US |
