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Mission and Goals of YADAPP

As primary influences on their peers, high school students have the capacity to become positive influences and leaders in the ongoing efforts to prevent violence and the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs among youth. The YADAPP project is designed to empower Virginia’s youth to assume positive peer leadership roles in their schools and communities through the implementation of youth-led action plans.

YADAPP Vision

  • Youth need a safe and drug-free environment in order to learn and grow as productive citizens.
  • Youth can be the primary influences on their peers.
  • Youth have the capacity to become positive and influential leaders.
  • Youth empowerment develops positive peer leadership roles.

Mission Statement

The mission of YADAPP is to develop youth leadership in order to foster substance abuse and violence prevention efforts at the state, regional, and local level.

YADAPP Goals and Objectives

Goal 1: To develop young leaders who will make positive contributions to substance abuse and violence prevention efforts at the state, regional, and/or local level.
  • Objectives:
    • YADAPP will develop youth leadership by increasing communication and program management skills for youth.
    • YADAPP will promote positive behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs about substance abuse and violence prevention.
    • YADAPP will provide opportunities for progressive leadership experience for youth in substance abuse and violence prevention.
Goal 2: To promote and support the use of effective youth-led substance abuse and violence prevention programs at the state, regional, and/or local levels.
  • Objectives:
    • YADAPP will increase the knowledge level of conference participants in substance abuse and violence prevention.
    • YADAPP will develop program evaluation skills of conference participants.
    • YADAPP will develop a state-level support structure for local and regional youth-led efforts.
    • YADAPP will provide training for adult sponsors in order to support youth leadership development and effective local program implementation.
    • YADAPP will coordinate the development of regional and community networks that support the expansion of youth-led initiatives

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YADAPP Project Description

As primary influences on their peers, high school students have the capacity to become positive influences and leaders in the ongoing efforts to prevent violence and the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs among youth. The YADAPP project is designed to empower Virginia’s youth to assume positive peer leadership roles in their schools and communities through the implementation of youth-led action plans.

In the summer of 1984, a group of caring individuals asked each other how Virginia could empower high school students in the ongoing efforts to prevent substance abuse and violence in schools and communities across Virginia. As a result, YADAPP was born.

Designed as a youth empowerment project, YADAPP provides high school students with the motivation and resources to assume positive peer leadership roles within their schools and communities in order to develop projects related to the promotion of school safety and the prevention of drug use among their peers. In order to reach the goals of this project, YADAPP can be defined by three main activities:
  • Summer Leadership Conference
  • Regional Leadership Conferences/Trainings
  • Year-Round Promotion and Assistance to Youth-Led Projects

Summer Leadership Conference

The most visible aspect of this project is the weeklong leadership conference held in the summer for approximately 600 high school students and adults from across the Commonwealth. In the past twenty-one years, approximately 382 public and private high schools and community organizations have participated in the YADAPP summer leadership conference. Participating community organizations have included community coalitions, parks and recreation offices, community services boards, offices on youth, and church youth groups, etc …

Who attends the summer leadership conference?
  • Youth interested in making a difference
  • Youth from leadership clubs and organizations such as SADD, YOVASO, SGA, NHS, BETA, etc …
  • Youth involved in community coalitions
  • Youth working in the community through MADD, community services boards, offices on youth, etc …
  • Adults interested in working with a team of students from their locality
The weeklong conference contains a variety of educational, and instructional activities for both youth and adult participants. The vast majority of these activities are youth-led in order to model youth leadership for participating students and adults. Activities at the weeklong conference include:
  • Motivational general sessions
  • Educational free-round workshops
  • Experiential learning and teambuilding
  • Strategies To Act Now (STAN) planning

Year-Round Promotion and Assistance of Youth-Led Projects

The most visible aspect of this project is the weeklong leadership conference held in the summer for approximately 600 high school students and adults from across the Commonwealth. However, another function of the YADAPP project is to provide technical assistance at the state level to youth-led projects throughout the school year and between summer conferences.

This ongoing function is an approach to empower and enable high school students to create and implement effective STAN plans in their schools and communities. This aspect of YADAPP seeks to create a clearinghouse of resources for Virginia youth in their ongoing efforts to prevent substance abuse and violence among their peers.

Regional Leadership Conferences

In order to reach a greater audience, the YADAPP project helps localities conduct similar regional youth leadership conferences. For example, Newport News Public Schools has successfully held a regional YADAPP for many years. These regional YADAPPs are one-day versions of the weeklong conference and invite more students from individual communities to become involved in local initiatives. Similar to the weeklong conference, students at a regional YADAPP experience engaging speakers, dynamic workshops, and youth-led activities. In 2004-2005, YADAPP partnered with the Richmond Drug-Free Alliance to conduct regional youth leadership conferences in the Richmond Metro area. In addition, localities in Northern Virginia and Southwest Virginia have requested assistance for regional events in their areas.