Much of todays literature on youth programs emphasizes the importance of evidencebased approaches. The Urban Institutes evaluation found Reclaiming Futures to be a promising strategy, however, many of the features that may be responsible for the positive system changes seen in the Reclaiming Futures initiative were inspired by practices not yet tested thoroughly by evaluators. This report examines two such components of the Reclaiming Futures initiative: positive youth development and cultural competence.