By Benjamin Chambers, February 28 2011
Maybe it's just me, but I don't hear very often about hip hop in services aimed at youth in the juvenile justice system or in prevention programming. If it is rare, that's strange, since hip hop matters to a lot of youth, not least because it's a key avenue for self-expression.
So here's a couple examples I'm aware of, where hip hop is a key part of the intervention.
First, you may have heard about H.Y.P.E. hip hop therapy (Helping Young People Thru Empowerment), a curriculum in which a mental health therapist in Stone Mountain, Georgia, incorporates hip hop into counseling sessions with African-American teen males. Her approach -- which has been turned into a book you can buy for $20 (click on the image on the far left)-- has been featured in JET magazine, on NPR, and on television. I'm not certain if it's been evaluated. (Hat tip to the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange.)
Second, when I was at the Joint Meeting on Adolescent Treatment Effectiveness (JMATE) in Baltimore in December 2010, I I saw a presentation on a substance abuse and HIV prevention curriculum that was built around hip hop. Aimed at middle-school youth, the Hip-Hop to Prevent Substance Abuse and HIV (H2P) curriculum has been listed in the National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP), run by Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
Anyone aware of any other interventions for teens -- particularly for youth in trouble with the law -- that build on hip hop in a significant way? Drop Drop me an email, leave a comment below, leave a comment in our discussion group on LinkedIn called "Juvenile Justice Reform and Adolescent Substance Abuse", and I'll post what I learn.
[Update March 3, 2011: Check out the comments below for at least two resources. Also, it looks like we'll be able to post a lot more information here soon. Stay tuned.]
Updated: February 08 2018