The Pennsylvania Youth Survey (PAYS) is endorsed by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime & Delinquency (PCCD), the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE), and the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare (PDPW) as a community assessment tool to implement evidence-based prevention programs in schools and communities.  In 2007, the PAYS Survey was administered to 5,400 students in grades 6, 8, 10, & 12 in eleven school districts in Erie County between November 2007 and March 2008. Here are some of the key findings of that report;

• 82% of high school seniors have tried alcohol.
• 33% of high school seniors use alcohol on a regular basis.
• 27% of high school seniors have tried smokeless tobacco.
• 19% of high school students have tried marijuana.
• 13% of all school students have attacked someone with intent to harm.
• 5% of all students admit to operating an automobile after ATOD use.
• 38% of all students felt sad or depressed most days of their life.
• 41% of 8th grade students felt sad or depressed most days of their life.

To provide a comprehensive, mentoring initiative for fatherless and at-risk youth that addresses: economic literacy, health and safety, educational success, spiritual literacy and civic literacy.

The comprehensive mentoring initiative will allow us to build relationships with over 1,000 students in the first year. The target age group will be the 5th-12th grade classes of Erie Schools. The mentoring team will identify each student and work with them until graduation.  The heart of the project is to hire one fulltime youth worker for every inner city school to monitor success and evaluate home life situation and make recommendations. As well as hire a professional counseling team to address the unmet needs burning within the abandoned children of Erie. Fatherless youth statistically are angry, have resentment, and are longing for a father figure/mentor. The impact this will have on the youth of the city is immeasurable.