Building Better Boyhood Programs: Evaluation of Programs Funded by the African American Men and Boys Task Force Initiative

in Pennsylvania face the same challenges as many of their peers across the country, including poor employment, education, and criminal justice system outcomes (Wimer and Bloom, 2014). To address these obstacles, human services and community-based programs seek to capitalize on the strengths of youth while recognizing the heterogeneity and interactive nature of both positive and negative individual and environmental influences (Benson et al., 2004). Although these programs often focus on bolstering youth skills (such as academic motivation, selfesteem, and interpersonal competence), implementing them is challenging, and the degree to which these types of programs are effective are not always clear (Quinn, 1999; Wimer and Bloom, 2014). The objective of this report is to evaluate the implementation of a subset of programs funded by The Heinz Endowments’ African American Men and Boys Task Force (AAMBTF) initiative in Allegheny County and to understand the programs’ operations, whether they made progress toward achieving their goals, and what can be learned from their implementation.