OUR MISSION

Empowering Idaho Youth Through Evidence Based Programs

WHAT WE DO

We combat juvenile delinquency through:

Diversion where we work with mandated children in local school districts and deliver programs for intervention with youth in school on diversion.

Reintegration where we partner with state juvenile facility administrators and staff, juvenile probation officers from counties in eastern Idaho, juvenile offenders and their family, and community leaders to support youth releasing from state facilities and prevent their recommitment.

We intervene on adolescent substance use by:

Providing educational resources and presentations on the dangers of using alcohol, tobacco, and other illicit substances for students in secondary schools around eastern Idaho.

Partnering with local community coalitions and city councils.

We conduct high quality research:

To provide empirical support for our substance use interventions and understand pathways leading to substance use as well as pathways leading youth from substance use.

To evaluate all program activity outcomes Alere Youth delivers.

To better understand community needs and support non-profit and other community partners.

To better understand factors predicting and preventing criminal activity among adolescents.

Provide opportunities for the Advancement of education:

We offer relevant professional internship opportunities to undergraduate college students to develop and strengthen their success to become proficient in their disciplines prior to graduation and build competencies, confidence, and experience for students to compete in the job market.

Lessen the burden of communities and governments:

Our prevention efforts in substance use and juvenile offense reduces financial and sociocultural costs to local communities, agencies, and families.

Combat community deterioration:

By instilling principles of generativity in the youth we serve – that is, teaching and encouraging youth to give back, establishing future generations who will support the communities they are a part of.

CO-FOUNDERS

Scott Martin graduated with his Bachelor’s degree from Utah Valley University and went on to complete his Master’s degree and PhD in Psychology from the University of Rhode Island. He is a Professor of Psychology at Brigham Young University – Idaho and loves teaching. Scott characterizes himself as a social psychologist with a research emphasis in positive psychology. Which means he works to better understand what influences positive emotional reactions, cognitions, and behaviors in social situations and the beneficial long term outcomes positive emotional experiences can have in a person’s life. He is an advocate for teens with more than 10 years of experience in substance use prevention research and public health education. Scott is enthusiastic about the meaningful impact Alere Youth is having on high risk juveniles. He coaches soccer for a local high school, loves spending time with his wife and four children, and loves the outdoors.

Rob Tonks is a native of Idaho from Idaho Falls. He has over three years of experience as a non-profit administrator. In addition to his professional experience, he has been a board fellow on a non-profit board, an intern for an impact investing center, and a student leader for a social venture startup program. He is also an adjunct faculty member at Brigham Young University-Idaho. He teaches a course on social innovation. Rob feels a deep desire to help make the world a better place and loves being able to share the principles of social innovation with his students. Prior to his work in the social impact space, he was a licensed architect in Montana. He is delighted to be an interdisciplinary professional who draws from a wide skill set. He earned is bachelor and master degrees in architecture from the University of Idaho. He later completed an MBA with a minor in social innovation from Brigham Young University. Rob is happily married to Debi, and they are the delighted parents of four children. Rob enjoys spending time outdoors including gardening, hiking, and camping. He also loves cooking for family and friends.

Mellissa Arter is a passionate advocate for children who has spent her career working with at-risk-youth. Previous to her work with Alere Youth Development, Mellissa spent two years as project manager of a grant funded substance abuse prevention program and seven years working with adolescents with addiction and abuse pathology in residential treatment. Much of her work focused on teens in the foster care system who struggled with behavioral disorders and addiction. Mellissa and her family moved to Rexburg in 2014 where she attended Brigham Young University- Idaho and earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology. Mellissa enjoys reading, horseback riding, and spending time with her husband and three children.