History
Young Informed Parents Praparados began in 2007, when Michele Allen and Veronica Svetaz joined efforts to develop a parenting program to promote positive relationships between parents and children to reduce smoking and substance use among Latino families with adolescents. The curriculum was created between 2008 and 2009, and a pilot test was carried out in 2010. Then, the program was refined and evaluated through a randomized controlled trial between 2011 and 2015. Through collaboration with seven community organizations, Informed Parents, Youth Prepared could reach 352 Latino families in urban and rural Minnesota will participate in the trial. Since then, the association has worked on the development of dissemination strategies to expand the use of the program.
Active community commitment
Informed Parents, Prepared Youth was developed and continues to be driven by community organizations that serve Latino families. Here For You and the Tyrone Guzman Center, in collaboration with the Health Disparities Research and Extension Program of the University of Minnesota, jointly developed curricula for parents and youth and conducted research that proved their effectiveness. Our initial approach, the conceptualization of the program and the development of the program components were guided by an advisory board of Latino parents. In multiple research studies, a large number of community organizations have actively collaborated in the refinement and evaluation of the program and, since the recent trial, have requested training in the curriculum.