Jeff Fleischer: CEO of Youth Advocate Programs, Inc., June 2007

This article originally appeared in Spring 2006 Rutgers School of Social Work Newsletter.

For young people who run afoul of the law, institutional placement is the usual response from the juvenile justice system. But for the past 30 years, one organization has worked to keep these youths and others who are at risk with

their families and in their communities.

Youth Advocate Programs, based in Harrisburg, PA, is headed by Jeff Fleischer (Rutgers College 1975, School of Social Work 1977), who has been with the nonprofit organization for more than two decades. As YAP's chief executive officer, he oversees an international organization whose mission is to provide community-based alternatives for at-risk youths, generally between the ages of 10 and 21, and to keep them out of residential institutions that often don't offer the resources these youths need.

"We work with young people and their families to keep them out of treatment centers, jails, psychiatric hospitals and other institutions," Fleischer says. "We believe that youths can be supported by their families and communities, and we believe in investing in communities rather than in institutions."

YAP serves as many as 5,000 young people and their families on three continents at any given time. Programs operate in 10 states, including New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, as well as in Sierra Leone, Guatemala, Ireland and England.

Fleischer says individuals are often referred to YAP by their schools, family courts, child welfare agencies or by a mental health agency. Typically, Fleischer says, "the family doesn't feel empowered. They are out of resources and are overwhelmed. They feel helpless. We look at the strength of the person and figure out how to use that in a meaningful plan."

YAP then assembles a team comprising family members, neighbors, employers, teachers, friends, sometimes even the local cop on the beat, anyone wiling to help, to come up with a plan for the youth. "We ask three questions of the family," Fleischer says. "What do you need? How can we help? And how do we work together as equal partners?" With a plan in place, YAP provides support, counseling, advocacy and links to resources, such as education and jobs. Staff, called advocates, are recruited from the neighborhoods where the young person and family live. The advocate spends anywhere from 10 to 30 hours a week in face-to-face contact with each young person and family.

Fleischer says the juvenile justice system in many countries relies far too heavily on putting kids in institutions, where they don't get the services they need. "These institutions are overcrowded, the conditions are not safe," he adds. Youths in institutions "are separated from their families and communities and usually end up right back in an institution."

He points to YAP's success rate as evidence that the program works. Independent evaluations of YAP show that the majority of youths served have positive outcomes and are less likely to have further problems, such as disruptive behavior at school or criminal activity. Most youths and their families stay in the program anywhere from three to six months.

Fleischer is a member of the Committee for International Human Rights Inquiry, which advocates for social service workers who have been oppressed or imprisoned around the world.

During his career, he has worked to change New Jersey policy regarding the institutionalization of young people and to develop street work programs and a youth center in Newark. He also helped create programs for members of the Bloods and Crips gangs in Fort Worth, Texas, and forged a partnership with a street youth program in Guatemala.

Fleischer says his commitment to helping underserved youths is rooted in his years at Rutgers. While at the School of Social Work, he worked with the Rutgers Student Unit based with the Housing Authority in Perth Amboy. "Even in the poorest areas," Fleischer says, "I learned that people have tremendous strength and resilience. My fellow students back then were Barbara Ellman, Javier Mercado and Karen Luber. The professors of the unit were Dr. Marcos Leiderman and Abraham Espada. We all learned from each other and mostly from the tenants of the Stockton St. Project. If you look to identify and develop the strengths in people, develop a respectful relationship, folks can create important roles for themselves and reach out to others as well."

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