In collaboration with the Princeton Center for Leadership Training and the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, HiTOPS currently facilitates the Teen Council, a peer education and leadership program. Teen PEP also operates in 50 New Jersey public high schools and 4 North Carolina high schools.
Thanks to a $4.8 million grant from the national Department of Health and Human Services (Office of Adolescent Health), this program will be expanded to be implemented and evaluated in 16 New Jersey schools and 16 North Carolina schools in areas with high teen birth rates over the next five years.
The Teen Council has been a cornerstone program for HiTOPS for over 20 years. Each spring, out of a pool of 50-75 Princeton area applicants, representing high schools from all over the area, 20 high school seniors are selected to participate in our peer education and leadership program. Using an evidence-based curriculum, these youth develop skills in leadership, group facilitation, public speaking and adolescent health issues so that they can effectively communicate with and provide role models for their younger peers within their school communities as well as detained and incarcerated youth throughout New Jersey.
HiTOPS developed this program because it respects the adolescent’s ability to learn and make good decisions when given factual information in a non-judgmental way. This public health approach to positive youth development is key to envisioning a world in which youth have the resources they need to live healthy, responsible and empowered lives.
