Prevention Project Criteria

There are many strategies confirmed by research that are shown to positively impact the health behaviors and choices of young people. All youth-led prevention projects must align with an effective prevention strategy shown to positively impact healthy behaviors and choices of young people as outlined in Washington’s Best Practices for Substance Abuse Prevention and Mental Health Promotion Guide Prevention tools: What works, what doesn’t. Through scholarships, the Spring Youth Forum seeks to encourage and support youth-led prevention projects throughout Washington using effective prevention strategies that:

• Focus on healthy alternatives to use
• Enhance connections to, and bonding with prosocial adults, peers and organizations
• Use structured interactive approaches that include skill practice
• Focus on normative education that portrays true use rates and corrects misperceptions

Team Adult Advisors are expected to provide Youth Teams with the necessary guidance to develop and implement prevention projects that aligns with what works in prevention. Prevention projects that appear to carry severe risks and use ineffective strategies which can cause harm to youth by unintentionally reinforcing and promoting pro-use attitudes, behaviors and norms, may affect the youth team’s acceptance to the Spring Youth Forum. For more information please review the Washington’s Best Practices for Substance Abuse Prevention and Mental Health Promotion Guide Prevention tools: What works, what doesn’t.

Eligibility for Scholarships and Participation

We have been provided a unique opportunity to sponsor the Spring Youth Forum in order to provide a forum in which youth teams may showcase their projects and be recognized and rewarded for their efforts in substance use prevention and mental health promotion activities.

The Committee hopes that all individuals attending enjoy their experience and will participate fully in the entire program. All participants will show respect and receive respect from others while participating in the Spring Youth Forum.

The following eligibility rules for scholarships and participation are intended to aide in creating a supportive atmosphere of respect and learning. Youth Teams must:

• Have an identified Team Adult Advisor who will lead and assist the Youth Team at the Spring Youth Forum.
• Be limited to a maximum of up to 6 youth and 2 Team Adult Advisors and/or Chaperones. The 3:1 ratio of youth to adult is required.
• Have completed a prevention project that will be presented to other Youth Teams in May. Projects can be long-term, ongoing projects or newly-developed projects. Presentations should be about specific youth-led projects and not programs in general. Only one project scholarship application per Youth Team is allowed. If your Youth Team has multiple projects, they should select one project to present.
• Plan to prepare an 8-minute presentation to share with other youth prevention groups at the Forum.
• Be able to participate in the entire Spring Youth Forum, including voting throughout the event and attending final presentations.
  • Teams not in attendance for the entire event will be ineligible for awards and prizes through disqualification. 
• Submit a completed scholarship application by the deadline. Space will be limited.
• Be of the required age. Youth must be 12-18 years of age; chaperones must be at least 19 and at least 3 years older than the youth they are chaperoning.
• All teams must attend and be punctual to assigned presentations and any scheduled programming sessions at the Spring Youth Forum.
  • In the event a team does not participate in the entirety of the program (from start to finish), is not punctual to all team presentations, and/or does not attend all necessary team presentations, a team may be disqualified from attending future events.

Application Review Process

The scholarship application review process will begin after the application deadline, and will occur for 3 business days. The Team Adult Advisor should complete and submit the scholarship application. All communication will be sent via email to the Team Adult Advisor and email address indicated on the scholarship application. Please be sure the correct contact email is provided on the scholarship application. Reviewers will evaluate and approve scholarship applications based on completeness of application, the stated criteria, and information provided. The application score accounts for 25 percent of the total score for each team. Teams are not guaranteed scholarships and some partial scholarships may be awarded.