The Texas Statewide Youth Services Network (TEXSYN) Project is implemented by the Texas Alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs in more than 200 program sites statewide. Some 2700 at-risk juveniles ages 8 through 17 years of age are served annually. All youth served exhibit one or more characteristics that place them at risk of being referred to the juvenile justice system in their local communities, including but not limited to the absence or inadequacy of positive adult role models and/or inadequate adult supervision during non-school hours;  the presence of anti-social behaviors at home, in school settings and/or in the community; experimentation with tobacco, alcohol or other illegal drugs; sexual experimentation inappropriate for age; and a demonstrated lack of respect for authority figures and/or violation of communities’ standards for youth behavior.

     Four related, evidence-based programs comprise the TEXSYN Project: The Boys & Girls Club Experience, in combination with three components of the Boys & Girls Club’s high profile, award-winning delinquency prevention program known as SMART Moves -- Start SMART, Stay SMART and SMART Leaders programs recognized by SAHMSA in 2002.  The Boys & Girls Club Experience has been well-researched and rigorously evaluated for more than two decades.  A recent meta-analysis of its outcomes and impacts by Public Private Ventures (2005) documented its efficacy as a means of achieving delinquency prevention in rural and urban communities across the U.S.  SMART Moves contains age appropriate prevention programs, including Start SMART - a curriculum-based program for youth ages 8-12 that teaches a broad spectrum of social and personal competence skills to help youths identify and resist peer and other social pressures to smoke, drink, and engage in sexual activity. Stay SMART follows Start SMART and is also a curriculum-based program for 11 to 16 year-olds and expands upon the lessons introduced in Start SMART. SMART Leaders reinforces the skills and knowledge learned during Stay SMART and encourages participants to stay involved in prevention activities and to be positive, drug-free role models for their peers. Participants in both programs are encouraged to become involved in other programs and activities of Boys & Girls Clubs and encourage their peers to be drug-free.