Piloting Positive Outcomes with High-Fidelity Wraparound
In 1989, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation set out to find ways to provide needed services to youth involved in multiple systems of care (MSY), as far too often these children were landing in residential treatment facilities and/or in psychiatric hospitalization. These options were costly and did not produce good life outcomes for children.
Positive Education Program, with its strengths-based Re-ED philosophy and unique relationship with school districts, was chosen as the entity to launch one of those six pilot programs. Stakeholders hoped that if the program demonstrated positive outcomes for these youth, that it could be taken to scale.
From the beginning, PEP Connections, as this program is known, adopted what is known as the High-Fidelity Wraparound model, a community-based service that uses a collaborative team-based approach. The wraparound model aligns with PEP’s Re-ED philosophical framework that emphasizes family voice and choice, the importance of building on strengths, and places value on the utilization of natural and community supports.
The outcomes have been impressive, allowing young people to remain in their communities. Today, that long-ago dream of bringing the service to scale has become a reality in the form of OhioRISE, and PEP is honored to have helped lead the way.
This innovation, like so many of our accomplishments at PEP, would not have been possible without philanthropy. It is thanks to the generosity of foundations and donors that we have been able to help make the case for OhioRISE, bringing hope and future full of possibilities to young people across Ohio.
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