Fact Sheet: What Works For Latino Children & Adolescents

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Children and adolescents of Latino/Hispanic background often face challenges that differ from other subpopulations in the United States. Language barriers, issues related to parental citizenship status, and the economic disadvantages often faced by these children and adolescents can result in various negative outcomes, such as depression, substance abuse, gang-related violence, and suicide. While several programs and interventions targeting Latino children have been implemented over the last decade, data on what out-of-school time programs and approaches work among this population are scarce.

This literature review synthesizes findings from 33 random assignment experimental intent-to-treat evaluations of social interventions that specifically targeted Latino children and adolescents, or intervention programs in which Latinos/as made up a large proportion of the participants and separate data about impacts for Latino participants are available. The goal of this review is to identify programs that work, as well as those that don’t, and the intervention strategies that appear to contribute to program success. Overall, 18 out of 33 rigorously evaluated programs were found to have a positive impact on at least one child or adolescent outcome (“found to work”), ten had mixed reviews, and five were not proven to work.

Overall findings showed:

•  Programs that target families tend to work.
•  Culturally infused programs have positive impacts across outcomes.
•  Inclusion of Spanish-speaking program facilitators is a critical component for positive outcomes