The TYPE program is designed to assist participating teens in understanding their uniqueness. By providing a safe, comfortable 
setting to build trusting relationships with a variety of mentoring adults, the program provides resiliency tools for girls and boys dealing with a variety of risk factors. Mentoring relationships have shown to improve youth’s self-esteem, behavior, and academic performances. TYPE groups are gender specific. All aspects of TYPE are designed to support the strengths of the students and their support systems. TYPE is based on research indicating that there are 40 Developmental Assets that strengthen young people in making wiser decisions, choosing positive paths and growing up more competent, caring, and responsible.
Groups are held as an after school program to address the estimated eight million students who go home to an empty house on a regular basis. However, because of after-school transportation, some middle schools have arranged for sessions to be held during school hours.
TYPE is funded by an Abstinence grant from the Cabinet of Health Services through the Louisville Metro Health Dept. With the overall goal of TYPE being to encourage abstinence, thus reducing teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease rates, the topics discussed provides information to reduce other negative behaviors.
Teen Youth Program of Encouragement (TYPE) sites:
Girls
- Newburg Middle
- TJ Middle
- Conway Middle
- Western Middle
- LCCC Louisville Central Community Center
- South Louisville Community Center
- Doss High- (Freshmen) 9th grade
- Southern Middle
- Carrithers Middle
- Iroquois Middle
- St. Anthony's Community Center
Boys
- Conway Middle
- Farnsley Middle
- Westport Middle
- Iroquois Middle
- Kammerer Middle
