Community programs provide positive options to troubled teens

By Staff Writer

Before joining a community program designed to keep children out of trouble, Cassandra Johnson had dropped out of school and hung out with the wrong crowd.

Now 14 years old and a member of a non-profit educational center, Johnson is back in school, improving her grades and setting goals for the future, South Carolina news affiliate WMBF reports. Johnson said that she has changed dramatically since she joined the community group because its staff encouraged her to take part in a lot of positive activities.

The center offers a community enhancement program for more than 70 children between the ages of nine and 18. The program's facilitators aim to provide kids with the life and educational tools they need to attend college, join the military or the workforce.

Data shows that the sooner kids find helpful activities, such as wilderness treatment camps, the less likely they are to drop out of school or participate in destructive behavior during their teen years. According to a study by the Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare Industry Council, more than 90 percent of graduates of wilderness treatment said that their experience was effective within two years after the process.