November 2019 - Parks & Recreation - 18

MEMBER TO MEMBER
The Fit2Lead Program
Preventing youth violence in a park-based setting
By Emily M. D'Agostino, DrPH; Stacy Frazier, Ph.D.; Eric Hansen, MPA; and Sarah E. Messiah, Ph.D.

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY PARK STAFF

Fit2Lead youth participate in a swamp
sloughing nature excursion to Everglades
National Park.

outh violence is a significant public health problem facing our nation. Every day, 1,374 U.S. youth on average, between the ages of 10
to 24 years, are victims of physical assault injuries treated in hospital
emergency rooms (500,000 per year in 2016). Violence is the leading
cause of death and nonfatal injuries for U.S. youth and its prevention is a primary
objective of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Afterschool,
park-based organizations can provide optimal settings for youth to acquire important social-emotional skills to improve resilience and reduce the likelihood of
participating in at-risk behaviors and violence.
Violence
prevention
efforts
among youth must begin early. Half
of adult mental health disorders are
diagnosed by age 14, and evidence
demonstrates a strong relationship
between depression, anxiety, chronic emotional stress, low impulsivity
and violence. Moreover, these experiences are aggravated by exposure
to poverty. Effective juvenile violence prevention strategies include
promoting positive adult role models and peer engagement, healthy
relationships, and academic/career
aspirations. In fact, the CDC has
called for the development, broad
dissemination and implementation
of youth programs to increase resiliency and reduce risk of violence.

Parks & Recreation

Fit2Lead Program Design
The Fit2Lead park-based afterschool resilience program in Miami-Dade County (MDC), Florida,
provides daily mental/emotional/physical health and wellness
activities and communication/
problem-solving skills training for
at-risk youth ages 12-17. This program was initiated in 2016 by multiagency partners, including MDC
Department of Parks, Recreation
and Open Spaces (MDPROS), Juvenile Services Department, Public
Schools, and Police Department as
part of the Mayor's Roundtable on
Youth Community Safety and is
central to the MDPROS continued
effort to create a healthier, more

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livable and sustainable community.
The Fit2Lead program includes two arms: From 3 p.m. to
7 p.m. Monday-Friday, September to June, youth ages 12-14 in
high-need neighborhoods attend
12 MDC parks at no charge (approximately 400 participants at a
given time). During these hours,
they receive daily academic support from a licensed MDC teacher
and participate in workshops that
provide them with opportunities
to hone their communication/
problem-solving/emotion regulation skills, and engage in sports,
recreation and nature excursions.
Transportation from the schools to
the parks is provided at no cost to
families, and each park serves two
to nine feeder schools. During the
summers, youth can attend MDPROS summer camps at no charge.
At age 15, participants who are
in good standing become eligible
for the second arm of the program:
a year-round paid internship for
youth ages 15-17 (approximately
150 participants at a given time). Interns are paid $9.05 per hour (a total
salary of up to $4,289.70 per participant, per year) and participate
in a three-hour weekly resilience
workshop, combined with daily onsite, practical work experience. The
uniqueness of this program is that
a park and recreation department
provides at-risk youth with a job,

November 2019 - Parks & Recreation

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