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The Phoenix Curriculum provides two separate program elements:

1. The in-school Gang Prevention Curriculum is designed for elementary, middle school and high school students (materials available for Grades 4-10). Detailed lesson plans and classroom support materials are included, and the gang prevention curriculum is linked to state core competency standards.
2. The supplemental Gang Intervention Curriculum provides elementary, middle, and high schools with classroom and counseling-based curricula, designed for the higher risk students, and targeting the highest risk factors. It provides multiple gang program options, with 100-150 hours of materials at each level. It addresses areas such as gang activity, bullying, peer pressure, substance abuse, anger, aggression, and violence. Gender-specific resources for gang intervention, gang prevention, gang resistance, and selected gang program materials in Spanish are provided. Several videos and accompanying workbooks supplement the school gang curriculum. Counselors' gang program’ resources include tools for overcoming resistance and guiding the process of individual change.

Critical Program Objectives

Click here (PDF) to see our decision matrix for the Phoenix Curriculum.

The Phoenix Curriculum guides the students to develop self-efficacy in identifying and addressing the highest risk factors for substance abuse, violence, bullying, gang involvement, and other crime. In this case, "self efficacy" will include the ability to recognize high risk people, places, things, and situations, and have confidence that they can handle these risk factors effectively using their new capabilities. These new capabilities and skills include a range of coping options for avoidance, escape, refusal, gang resistance, and violence prevention.

Self-efficacy is the key to successful gang intervention and gang prevention. To develop self-efficacy, the students will demonstrate competence in skills such as problem solving, problem avoidance, refusal and "escape" skills, coping effectively with their highest risk factors, asking for help from safe and supportive people, feelings management (self-monitoring and emotional intelligence), gang resistance, and impulse control. In essence, The Phoenix Curriculum provides innoculatioin against the highest and most common risk factors through the development of self-efficacy.

The success of a school gang intervention or gang prevention program also depends on the development of a firm safety net. Students are encouraged to identify and enhance critical protective factors or assets which can help them achieve happy and productive lives. This process includes aspects of character education (the development of pro-social values and behaviors, such as the selection of pro-social friends, empathy for others, the development of positive goals, involvement with a personal support system, gang resistance, participation in positive community organizations and activities). As schools are a critical protective factor, the curriculum provides support for violence prevention, anti-bullying programs, peer pressure awareness, and embracing diversity.

The Phoenix Curriculum is based on the New Jersey Juvenile Justice Commission's experience with the Phoenix Gang Intervention [link] and New Freedom [link] programs. NJJJC programs using these materials have demonstrated significant reductions in recidivism (50+% reduction), and the gang program was awarded the national "Spirit of Excellence" award at the National Gang Crime Research Center's 2004 annual gang program conference in Chicago.

Materials

The Phoenix Curriculum 50-hour in-school gang prevention program is a standardized curriculum consisting of nearly four hundred pages of material targeted at different age groups. A shorter 25-hour program is also available. Supplemental gang intervention curriculum can be used in-school or in intensive after-school gang programs. Specific resources target common high-risk factors, including bullying, peer pressure, and gangs. Supplemental materials include interactive workbooks and videos.

The Spanish-language curriculum includes Curriculo Phoenix, Recursos de los Programas de Desviación (Spanish-language community program), and Programa de Intervención de Pandillas (Spanish-language gang intervention resources).

Logic Model: Results-based Programming

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The Phoenix Curriculum gang intervention, gang prevention, and gang resistance programs provide the tools and guidance for you to monitor immediate and intermediate outcomes, and the development of self-efficacy. Click here (PDF format) for a detailed logic model of this program, and please contact us for more information.

For additional information about our programs and services, use the navigation menu to the left or browse our compilation of documents in PDF format for access to comprehensive resource lists, marketing materials, sample material, and covers.