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National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention. Presentation to Mayor Francis Slay’s Commission on Children, Youth & Families April 19, 2012 Rev. Starsky D. WIlson Deaconess Foundation. The Forum.
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National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention Presentation to Mayor Francis Slay’s Commission on Children, Youth & Families April 19, 2012 Rev. Starsky D. WIlson Deaconess Foundation
The Forum A Network of communities and federal agencies that work together, share information and build capacity to prevent and reduce youth violence
The Forum Established by President Obama in 2010 to build a national conversation concerning youth and gang violence Models a new kind of federal/local collaboration Convenes a diverse array of stakeholders Provides federal capacity building assistance, coordinated funding and supportive network to Forum sites
Forum Goals Elevate youth & gang violence as an issue of national significance Enhance the capacity of localities, as well as others across the country, to more effectively prevent youth & gang violence Sustain progress and systems change through engagement, alignment & assessment
Participating Federal Agencies Department of Justice Department of Education Department of Health & Human Services Department of Housing & Urban Development Department of Labor Office of National Drug Control Policy
Participating Communities Boston, MA Chicago, IL Detroit, MI Memphis, TN Salinas, CA San Jose, CA
Three Operating Principles • Multi-disciplinary partnerships are key • Communities must balance and coordinate prevention, intervention, enforcement & re-entry strategies • Data and evidence-driven strategies must inform efforts
Multi-Disciplinary Partnerships • Coordination of diverse partners: • law enforcement • education • labor • social services • public health • businesses • philanthropic organizations • faith- and community-based organizations • parents and youth
Balanced Approach • Strategies should be broad-based and balanced: • Preventionefforts spanning from early childhood into young adulthood, such as • youth development • family support • school • community mentoring • school-based and out-of-school recreational activities • “Relational” Interventionand Enforcementprograms that engage with high‐risk and gang‐involved youth • Reentryprograms that plan for returning youthful offenders prior to their release
Data Driven Strategies • Data sharing should be inclusive of all stakeholder agencies • Integrate a wide-range of data from a variety of sources including • law enforcement • education • public health • child protection/welfare • Labor • housing • Collaboration is enhanced by embracing principles of distributed intelligence – many perspectives better than just one
Comprehensive Planning • Initiatives must be well planned to ensure: • Organizational alignment • Work to achieve a shared vision • All parties have a common set of measurements to gauge the effectiveness of the work • Regular adjustments can be made to the plan based local outcomes and opportunities
Summit on Preventing Youth Violence • Washington, DC - April 2-3, 2012 • More than 250 participants from Forum cities, government agencies, faith/community-based organizations, private partners, philanthropy & the White House • Select non-Forum cities invited • St. Louis Representatives • Rev. Starsky D. Wilson, Deaconess Foundation • Ms. Heidi Veron, Saigh Foundation
Summit Highlights • Highest level of inter-departmental participation • Reports on comprehensive approaches & results from Forum cities • Skill-building Sessions • Community-School Partnerships • Taking a Public Health Approach & Data-Sharing • Relationships between Law Enforcement & Youth • Responding to Youth Trauma • Philanthropy & Funding Innovation • Anti-Drug Campaigns & Cause-Related Marketing
Summit Highlights (Cont’d) • Launch of www.findyouthinfo.gov • Strategic Planning Toolkit • Promoting collaboration • Disseminating key funding opportunities • Highlighting promising strategies • Additional capacity building grants to Forum Cities • Announcement of desired expansion to four (4) new cities
Reflections from StL Representatives • WE WANT IN! • Key Selection Factors: • Demonstrated need • Illustration of multidisciplinary leadership commitment • All the “promising practices” are here (or forming), they simply need to be aligned (& a compelling reason to do so) • To be most competitive, St. Louis application effort would need to be led by the Mayor’s office & include regional participation
Sources • National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention, Summit on Preventing Youth Violence (Washington, DC: April 2-3, 2012) • “Focus on Youth Violence” Presentation to St. Louis Health Funders Group by Lindsay Matush (Brown Sisters Foundation) & Heidi Veron (Saigh Foundation) • www.findyouthinfo.gov