Youth rising (YR), a nonprofit organization, will expand its current youth rising leadership institute - peer mentor program (YRLI-PMP), a comprehensive, evidence-based, and youth-centered peer…

Youth rising (YR), a nonprofit organization, will expand its current youth rising leadership institute - peer mentor program (YRLI-PMP), a comprehensive, evidence-based, and youth-centered peer mentoring program in the following states; 1) arizona, 2) idaho, 3) oregon, 4) tennessee and 5) utah. The program employs strategies to reduce the occurrence of high-risk youth drug use, homelessness, high school drop-out and other negative behavior indicators, while increasing youth belonging, security, agency, community-connectedness and overall well-being of high-risk youth through a peer mentoring program. The four essential components of the youth rising leadership institute - peer mentor program consist of (1) recruitment and mentor matching (2) assessment, capacity building, and leadership development (3) person-centered action planning and (4) program evaluation. Youth rising will serve at-risk youth in grades 6-12 in the five states over the three-year implementation period. Youth rising tailors all programming to prioritize youth who are any one or a combination of the following indicators: low-income, culturally diverse, experiencing homelessness, experiencing emotional or wellbeing challenges, involved in the juvenile justice system, involved in the foster care system, a target of any kind of bullying, including cyberbully, a victim of crime, experience substance abuse within themselves or their household, are children of active military duty personnel or incarcerated parents or live in rural communities.