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TIRELESS LONG BEACH LEADERS HUNGRY TO DO MORE, LEARN FROM OTHERS
by Michael Hopps
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All but one of the Long Beach delegation at the 2015 National Summit on Preventing Youth Violence. See full story for names and titles.
The 10-person delegation from Long Beach, Calif., who attended the National Summit on Preventing Youth Violence last month sat down together on the last day of the conference and began drafting an action plan. Many sessions at the Summit had fired the imaginations of team leader Neighborhood Relations Officer Tracy Colunga, Police Chief Robert Luna, School Superintendent Christopher Steinhauser, City Manager Representative Diana Tang, Health Director Kelly Colopy, City Prosecutor Doug Haubert, Pastor Gregory Sanders, and two youth leaders. But what the Long Beach leaders most wanted from their trip was to keep the conversations going between their own group and the groups they had met from the Youth Violence Prevention network's other cities.
"We made a list of cities we were interested in sharing peer-to-peer learning with," Colunga recounted. "Then we voted."
The favored city was Louisville, Ky., for a host of reasons. These included, according to Colunga, "its use of public health models and its very robust implementation, and what they do for crime prevention through environmental design."
Within days of returning to Southern California, Colunga and her team put together a technical assistance request and sent it to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), asking for support to visit Louisville.
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ANNOUNCEMENTS & UPCOMING EVENTS
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Funding Opportunities
Supporting At-Risk Youth and Young Fathers
The Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance, is offering two funding opportunities to support at-risk youth and young at-risk fathers. New Pathways for Fathers and Families will help at-risk young fathers strengthen their relationship skills and employability. Grants awarded under the Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education solicitation will support training programs that promote healthy marriages. Applications for the grants are due July 7, 2015.
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Training Opportunities
IACP Announces Free Training on Child Trafficking
The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) has launched free online training on child sex trafficking for frontline officers. This course teaches the physical and behavioral indicators of child sex trafficking, how to respond appropriately, and how to refer a case for further investigation.
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SEATTLE'S ALIVE & FREE HELPS YOUTH RECOVER
FROM VIOLENCE
by Marla Fogelman
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Alive and Free street outreach workers Mark Rivers and Brandon
Shell participate in We Day at Seattle's Key Arena.
Members of Seattle's YMCA Alive & Free program are passionate about their community, and their determination to get at-risk and gang-involved youth the services they need has inspired some of the city's most beloved icons. Just last September, the 13-person street outreach team donned green aprons to fill the mugs of Starbucks lovers along with Coach Pete Carroll and members of the famed Seattle Seahawks. Together, they raised money to bring programs and services to youths who are most at risk for violence.
The mission of the Y's Alive & Free street outreach program—funded in the City of Seattle through the Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative—is to help youths make positive changes by connecting them with relevant services and opportunities. Seattle's Alive & Free program is a member of the national Alive & Free Movement™, which "identifies violence as a public health issue." The program uses street outreach workers to teach youth how to stay free from the "disease" of violence.
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COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE
Faith-Based Communities Unite Leaders
Across Youth Violence Prevention Initiatives
by Jack Calhoun
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Through an entry-level job at a detention facility run by the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services, Eugene Schneeberg inadvertently found his life calling as a faith-based activist and youth advocate. Here, he was introduced to Straight Ahead Ministries, a group that serves youth in lock-up and gives them support on the street after their release.
It's faith based," said Schneeberg, who described that faith as "a belief that under the pain, anger, and fear is a precious, wonderful, and unique child of God."
Eventually his work with Straight Ahead led him to the Justice Department, where he has been since 2010. He is now the Department's director of faith-based and neighborhood partnerships.
Faith Communities Take Unique Approaches
Schneeberg offers that faith communities are different from other communities. They express their commitment to troubled kids in different ways: Some hold peace marches. Some host police–community dialogues. Some are in the middle of the policy process advocating for changes in law and funding. Some walk or ride with the police, intervening in so-called hot spots. Some use their facilities as a "safe place, a place for truce talks between gangs, a place for late-night basketball." No matter what the faith community does, Schneeberg pointed out, they have one thing in common: "a relational ministry, a willingness to engage kids, to forge relationships even with the angriest and the most violent."
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NEWS & VIEWS
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Reports
A Review of Juvenile Drug Courts
Juvenile Drug Courts: A Process, Outcome, and Impact Evaluation features findings from an evaluation of nine juvenile drug court intervention programs, their processes, and key outcomes. The programs' effectiveness in reducing recidivism and improving social functioning is assessed, as well as their use of evidence-based approaches.
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News
Bullying Rates Drop
New data indicate bullying prevalence is at a record low. In the latest School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey, bullying among students 12 to 18 dropped from 28 percent to 22 percent after a number of years with no change.
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Other Resources
Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children
This guide is an online resource for policymakers who address commercial sexual exploitation of children at state, local, and tribal levels.
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