Every Choice Has Opportunity (ECHO)
ECHO is a free, open-source curriculum that helps service providers guide young people to make better decisions using tools informed by research and practice.
WEBINAR | Every Choice Has Opportunity: Inside the ECHO Curriculum
We invite you to a webinar on Thursday, April 2nd that will provide an in-depth look at the research behind ECHO, our approach to creating it, and an overview of resources and tips to get started with using the curriculum. The event will also include a panel discussion featuring youth-serving program providers who will share their experiences bringing ECHO to life.
Project overview
Many of the biggest risks to young people in the U.S. – criminal justice involvement, violence, drug use, car crashes, school dropout – stem from in-the-moment decisions people often go on to regret. The good news is that it’s possible to teach young people to avoid predictable decision-making traps in ways that make their lives better through cognitive behavioral interventions.
But those programs are often hard to scale because they require additional or specialized staff and resources that can be hard to come by.
To fill this gap, we’ve created Every Choice Has Opportunity (ECHO), a free, open-source curriculum that any organization can deliver with their existing staff. Created by the University of Chicago in partnership with youth and non-profit providers, ECHO is modularized so that programs can incorporate it into what they’re already doing or use it as a new, standalone programming component.
Years Active
2025 – present
Topics
Project Leads
Brenda Benitez
Senior Implementation Manager
Monica Bhatt
Senior Research Director
Christopher Jaffe
ECHO Curriculum Writer
Michelle Ochoa
Portfolio Director
John Wolf
Associate Director
Longer-Term Impacts of a Youth Behavioral Science Intervention: Experimental Evidence from Chicago
This paper details updated results from a study of Choose to Change® (C2C®), a trauma-informed cognitive behavioral therapy and intensive mentoring program developed by nonprofits Brightpoint and Youth Advocate Programs, Inc. (YAP).
Choose to Change® (C2C®) Program Guide
This program guide is intended for community-based organizations working to fill gaps in services and reach an underserved population of youth impacted by violence and trauma.
Building safer communities: Behavioral science innovations in youth violence prevention
This policy brief highlights results from a large-scale randomized controlled trial that evaluated the impact of Choose to Change® (C2C®) on participants’ criminal justice involvement.
Unpacking the Impacts of a Youth Behavioral Health Intervention: Experimental Evidence from Chicago
This working paper details results from a study of Choose to Change® (C2C®), a trauma-informed cognitive behavioral therapy and intensive mentoring program developed by nonprofits Brightpoint and Youth Advocate Programs, Inc. (YAP).