TeenSmart - JovenSalud

Teenagers and young adults need to develop soft skills in order to thrive through the turbulent period of adolescence and to build healthy coping strategies for resilience. Unfortunately, teens are least likely of all age groups to access traditional support services. To bridge that gap, TeenSmart created JovenSalud.net to engage, equip, and empower Latin American youth online where they feel safe and comfortable to express themselves and to build their skills. To date, over 75,000 Latin American teens have tested and approved JovenSalud.net, but if we can grow that impact to the 70 million vulnerable teens in the region, we will build societies with more integral health, leadership skills, life projects, and healthy responses to challenging global and regional situations. That is why TeenSmart was born: to accompany teens during this transcendental, evolutionary moment of their lives and to provide them with the skills and resources they need to thrive. 

Between the ages of 10-24, children pass through key developmental experiences and complex emotional and moral questioning on their path to adulthood. For teenagers as individuals and for the society that surrounds them, adolescence is an opportunity for skill-building, introspection, building community, questioning status quo, exploring, and learning. 

However, teens are the least likely of all age groups to receive or access traditional health services necessary to accompany them through this developmental process (WHO). In the absence of support and to cope through such tremendous development, teens often turn to risk behaviors. Specifically, six common risk behaviors (violence, tobacco, alcohol/drugs, risky sexual behaviors, sedentarianism and poor nutrition) contribute to 75% of health care costs of illness and death in Latin America and the United States (CDC, UNICEF, WHO). The financial and social costs associated with these behaviors during adolescence and later in life as adults, are staggering for governments and society.  In Latin America, national crises compound individual development crises and result in tragic statistics: 50,000 unaccompanied Central American minors migrate to the US border each year; 1 out of every 4 Nicaraguan girls become mothers by 18; throughout the region, increasing rates of suicide and suicidal ideation devastate communities. 

TeenSmart’s primary population are Central American youth who want the skills to be empowered, inspired and informed in order to promote their rights to participation, development, and protection in the face of poverty, drug-trafficking, teen pregnancy, incarceration, and violence. To date, 75,000 of these teens have registered on TeenSmart's youth platform with the potential to scale out to 70 million. 

Our secondary population are schools who offer TeenSmart services, building their own capacities to empower teens through TeenSmart data (aggregate reports) and trainings.

To stay relevant and address teens' needs in a meaningful way, TeenSmart studies the data it collects on every user: 

• Use: how teens find us, what services they use, how often they return, etc. 
• Satisfaction (randomly assessed, teens rate JS.net 85-90% or higher)
• Impact (pre/post tests and qualitative testimonies) 
• Additionally, TeenSmart's work is informed by a youth leadership council and youth clubs. 

Engaging teens through an interactive online platform ensures that they are the agents of change whereas traditional approaches have focused on costly adult-led face-to-face interactions (difficult to scale) and on family and community factors (outside of teen’s control). TeenSmart listens to youth where they feel safe and comfortable: on their phones and online! 

TeenSmart’s solution is to promote life-skills and personal leadership in teens via JovenSalud.net - an interactive, online platform where youth have 24/7 access to services. The platform is designed for youth to guide their own process of reflection and empowerment. For example, a teen might start by taking a personal health quiz which provides a baseline for their risk/resilience behaviors and qualifies them for age and gender-specific life-skills courses. Subsequently, the teen may ask questions in the coaching portal where trained health professionals have fielded 100,000 one-on-one coaching sessions, to date. Additional services include a virtual health library, online chats and forums, and a community health resource directory. 

About 30% of users access JovenSalud.net via their phones, but in order to bridge the digital divide, TeenSmart works with over 130 schools throughout CA to provide our services to vulnerable communities and to weave a face-to-face network of support through leadership clubs and conferences. 

To deliver JovenSalud.net, TeenSmart uses a Learning Management System (LMS), an evaluation system, a personalized counseling system, communication tools (WhatsApp), development technologies (JAVA, Python, Microsoft SQL Server, AWS Environment, Web HTML 5, Ionic) and organizational tools (Office 365, Sharepoint, Freshdesk, JIRA, Confluence).  

By harnessing the power and flexibility of technology, we can provide 24/7 access to anyone, anywhere regardless of location or situation. 

Traditionally, youth health support has been face-to-face, adult-centered, focused on long therapy (as opposed to coaching), and clouded by misinformation and taboo. Thanks to JovenSalud.net, for the first time ever, Spanish-speaking teens have a confidential, virtual health platform where they feel safe and comfortable to express themselves. Teens who would otherwise not have access to a trained coach or a quality sex-education course, now have private, 24/7 control over their own health and risk behaviors.

TeenSmart is uniquely innovative because it: 

• listens to youth online where they feel safe and comfortable; 
• uses micro-learning messaging to engage, equip and empower youth; 
• transcends borders to reach youth anywhere, anytime via internet;
• promotes self-care and personal leadership among youth via free online coaching;
• advances science by collecting data on the adolescent health population, which is underreported in research;

Additionally, TeenSmart is 

• cost-effective;
• scalable;
• smart and getting smarter: www.JovenSalud.net has an automated evaluation system that allows for continuous and immediate monitoring of use, satisfaction, and impact of services;
• based upon best behavioral science and practice. TeenSmart uses and evaluates health promotion content and methods from expert international organizations such as WHO and CDC.
• Focused on prevention: The majority of TeenSmart users are 10-13 years old which means that there is more possibility of preventing risky behaviors before they start.

TeenSmart's work is based on the Health Belief Model theoretical framework which suggests that people’s beliefs about a health problem, perceived benefits of action and barriers to action, and self-efficacy, are the keys to predicting health-promoting behaviors. When teenagers have knowledge, skills and motivation, they will make smart choices and build skills for education, employment and social responsibility.

Quantitative results demonstrate TeenSmart's impact on the lives of Latin American youth. 

• 75,000 users
• 100,000 coaching sessions
• 10,000 course graduates who report improvements such as greater family communication, less depression and suicidal ideation, greater seatbelt and helmet use, less weapon carrying and fighting, healthier dietary habits, postponement of alcohol consumption, and greater condom use.

TeenSmart has published studies of its impact [1]. Additionally, an external review of TeenSmart in 2018 by the Evans School of Public Affairs (UW), concluded that TeenSmart is hundreds of times more cost-effective than government management of the resulting problems.

Qualitative results reveal users' deep, personal transformations: “I found this website while reading about suicide online because I was so depressed. I know now that suicide is not an option for me. Thanks for being here for me and for paying attention. This is the best website on the internet... to have a virtual friend that listens without judgement.”

[1] Medrano, V., et al. (2017). Improving family communication: Using Smartphones to encourage Nicaraguan adolescents to think, feel and take positive action. Hispanic Health Care International Vol 15, Issue 1, pp. 35 – 42. 

As of 2020, 75,000 youth have registered on JovenSalud.net and return on average 3-4 times. We have logged over 100,000 one-on-one coaching sessions from 34,000 teens, and more than 10,000 Latin American teens have graduated from our life-skills courses. TeenSmart youth graduation rates are very high (80-90%) compared to other e-learning platforms that tend to have low engagement and high turnover.

Each year, an average of 10,000 new users register on JovenSalud.net and 2,000 of those go on to graduate from life-skills courses. Likewise, we receive 300-500 coaching requests, on average, per week. We are extremely curious about how the COVID-19 global pandemic will effect use, but already in 2020, we have seen a 490% increase in new individual users (those who find JovenSalud.net on their own), demonstrating the need and opportunity that JovenSalud.net is prepared to scale to meet.

By analyzing these user trends and data and accelerating our platform’s capacities with automatic intelligence, we can project growth at 15% to 25%/year for the next five years, but we will have the capacity to serve millions of at-risk Latin American teens. 

As part of its 2020-2025 strategy, TeenSmart will make a big leap towards a digital transformation that will allow us to reach millions of LAC adolescents by changing our paradigm from a "push" service to a "pull" offering. This tech upgrade ("JovenSalud 3.0") will focus on the customer experience through artificial intelligence and gamification.

When we meet our goal within one year, we will have developed and trained an AI-powered cognitive assistant that uses sentiment analysis and other methods to respond immediately to user questions and to classify the questions based on risk level so that we can:

• focus on reinforcing the healthy behaviors of those youth at low risk,
• provide additional automated guidance and promotion for those at moderate risk, 
• continue providing human guidance and support to those at highest risk and in emergent situations (such as cases of suicidal ideation, domestic violence and abuse)

Within five years, as  a result of this upgrade, millions of at-risk teens would be able to access meaningful health promotion services for personal empowerment thanks to predictive, deep knowledge algorithmic models that interpret youth’s risks, interests, needs, and wishes, keeping them engaged for other life-skills services (such as courses, chats, coaching). The upgraded platform will have been designed to scale globally with minimal further engineering effort and more partners will be eager to underwrite and promote the services throughout the Americas and specifically in public schools and health clinics. 

Funding is the number one barrier to accomplishing these goals for increased engagement with teens via JovenSalud.net. 

Our technical vision, capacities and know-how have been buttressed by the past three years of dedicated focus to interview tech partners and design this proposal together with our executive leadership, IT committee, and board of directors in order to build a robust, flexible, and mission-driven proposal for the tech component. 

Culturally and legally, TeenSmart has invested over fifteen years of building alliances with a broad range of partners (government, school systems, parents, youth leaders) in order to establish a secure market for operations in Latin America. 

Therefore, our primary barrier will be to fund this project which has a price tag of around $150,000 for the first phase (cognitive assistant) and $1 million for the second phase (digital transformation).

To define a funding strategy for the JovenSalud 3.0 digital transformation, in February 2020, our board of directors convened an in-person retreat with a group of experts on major funding strategies and have now begun the first steps of a capital campaign for an upgraded JovenSalud. Specific strategies include:

• Board and Executive Leadership pitching to high net worth individuals through existing funder contacts
• Corporate social responsibility grant opportunities such as Twilio.org’s crisis response funding
• Partnerships with organizations, such as CrisisTextLine, that already have some of the technology in place, in order to share resources

TeenSmart and its JovenSalud Alliance have a strong record of win-win public-private partnerships and for this project, we will continue successful collaboration with private technology firms such as Quovantis, Avantica, and Singularities, who will provide expert consulting talent and knowledge in the areas of ML and big data. All of these partners are motivated by their own technology and education mandates as well as their interest in the enormous potential impact of the project.

TeenSmart has a 15-year track record of building alliances in Latin America in order to effectively serve Central American youth ages 10-24.Our data shows that TeenSmart users primarily come from Costa Rica (43%), Nicaragua (40%) and other parts of Central America (17%). Over 130 schools and youth centers offer TeenSmart services with their youth populations and receive training from TeenSmart staff on organizing youth leadership groups and events. 

To sustain and scale our impact, partnerships have been key, which is why we founded the JovenSalud Alliance in 2009. The Alliance includes five different types of allies: government (political leaders who promote public policies at local and national levels); implementers (130+ schools and youth organizations throughout Central America who help bridge the technological gap for marginalized youth); technical partners (technology firms who consult on JovenSalud.net improvements); volunteers; and, corporate/financial partners committed to making these services freely available to youth. The Costa Rican and Nicaraguan governments support this initiative. In 2013 and 2017 respectively, the Costa Rican and Nicaraguan ministries of education recommended the use of JovenSalud.net in all public schools. In 2015, Costa Rica declared the JovenSalud Alliance as a National Initiative. 

• 10-12 full-time staff
• 5-7 part-time staff
• 2-3 contractors

TeenSmart International is a non-profit organization with 15 years of experience and legal status in the United States, Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Its Executive Director belongs to important professional networks such as Central American Healthcare Initiative and Gratitude Fellowship. It has a competent staff of 15 high level professionals in Social Sciences, Health, Education, Communication and Development of technological solutions, who also train and accompany 100 professional volunteers per year.

TeenSmart's board of directors is made up of 15 experts in areas such as Public Health, Psychology, Leadership, Finance, Philanthropy, Technology and Venture Companies. We are honored that a former member of the Board of Directors and current ally, is the Costa Rican Minister of Health, Dr. Daniel Salas, who has been leading Costa Rica's renowned response to the COVID-19 crisis.

TeenSmart is a visionary organization, with demonstrated results and enormous growth potential. It is for these reasons that TeenSmart was chosen for the following prestigious prizes honoring its work and impact:

• 1st Place Carlos Slim Foundation Exceptional Health Institute Award for Latin America
• 2nd Place Visionary JK Prize from the InterAmerican Development Bank 2018
• 2nd Place Non-Profit with greatest social Impact in Latin America by VIVA Idea Schmidheiny 2018 

For this project, TeenSmart is working with Quovantis Technologies, a full cycle software design and development services company with a mission to create comprehensive, high quality products through design-led product development to create extraordinary digital user experiences. It is based in California, USA and its production is focused on India. Its leaders have been working hand in hand with TeenSmart's Executive Management and Board of Directors for the past 8 months to understand the organization's needs. 

Quovantis Product Manager, Sunpreet Narang, has dedicated nearly 40 hours of in-kind talent collaborating with the Executive Director of TeenSmart on its technological future. For this process, Quovantis has used a comprehensive three-step process to determine the needs of TeenSmart and the youth and to develop a better product: think, design and build. Quovantis strives to challenge the status quo by solving problems with empathy and efficiency. Its strength lies in its philosophy of working with clients as technology partners rather than service providers. 

TeenSmart's current business model demonstrates the following: 

1. We have a unique product that connects LAC teens with life-skills and educational opportunities and provides them with tools that they would not have otherwise. This informative, interactive, public and free platform is visited annually by 11,000 new users who continuously validate TeenSmart as their resource for life-long learning as they establish healthy lifestyle habits for the rest of their lives.
2. We deliver this product primarily through alliances, which ensures quality, sustainability and scalability.
3. The conclusions found in the UW study (2018) comparing the monetary value of our preventive services versus the annual costs that the Costa Rican government invests in the treatment of the risk behaviors, shows that government expenses per/person are at least $3,000, while TeenSmart invests $23 per user/per year. Assuming we were effective in all cases, this is a ratio of: $1 invested in prevention to $130 in treatment.
4. Indirect social benefits abound: youth become health promotors among their peers and schools strengthen their internal capacity to work with their own adolescent population.
5. Lastly, TeenSmart records annual growth in uses of the platform, funds raised, volunteers, in-kind donations and new allies, which is achieved by working with the same human resources each year, and this contributes to lowering costs.

TeenSmart has proven its ability to thrive with a diversified non-profit fundraising model for the past 15 years. 

Raising capital investment is a priority for TeenSmart in the coming years as we are on the verge of a digital transformation. TeenSmart has the internal capacity led by the Executive Director and Board of Directors to carry out this campaign. In 2020, we are focused on planning, creating the campaign and pilot testing with our current major donors to get their feedback and list of contacts to visit during the campaign. This investment campaign will be accompanied by proposals to the Interamerican Development Bank Lab and Accenture, and we are engaging other prospective big corporations like Twilio grants, Google, Facebook, and Netflix that could invest in this unique platform through many ways such as ad-space. Likewise, TeenSmart has excellent internal capacities in the writing, execution, management and evaluation of grants and awards in areas such as youth leadership, creation of educational materials, digital transformation, innovation, scalability, alliances, and specific topics such as sexual and reproductive health promotion, promoting good family relationships, etc.

Fee-for-services is a scenario that we are constantly exploring and building on past experiments in which we have had micro-successes, such as, for example, with local governments in Costa Rica.