Newark Community Solutions Youth Empowerment and Resiliency Project (NCS-YERP)

In response to the OJJDP FY 2021 Strategies to Support Children Exposed to Violence solicitation, Newark Community Solutions, a project of Justice Innovation Inc. d/b/a Center for Justice Innovation, proposes the Newark Community Solutions-Youth Empowerment and Resiliency Project (NCS-YERP) to develop and enhance coordinated responses to violence within the Newark, New Jersey, community as it relates to youth and their families; develop and implement a comprehensive and restorative direct service program to address trauma associated with youth victimization, exposure to violence, and youthful legal-involvement; and create a sustainable and replicable program that can continue to reduce incidence of youth violence and meaningfully respond to violence and trauma amongst young people. The project serves youth ages 13 through 17 who have either been impacted by violence or involved in the juvenile justice system, and their families and community. 
To accomplish these goals, Newark Community Solutions will 1) utilize existing multidisciplinary stakeholder networks within the Newark community to inform and advise youth-based services and community-based violence prevention strategies; 2) increase the capacity of criminal justice stakeholders to respond to youthful offending, violence, and victimization; 3) develop community-based approaches and crime-reduction strategies that focus on prevention and intervention of violent crime among youth; 4) raise program awareness through strategic and rigorous outreach to young people, juvenile justice stakeholders, educational stakeholders, and youth-serving community programs; 5) develop individualized service plans based on evidence-based, clinical needs assessment; 6) increase protective factors through delivery of trauma-informed counseling, case management, and mentoring services to youth impacted by trauma, crime, and youthful offending; 7) provide aftercare support services to ensure participants have connection to necessary services after program completion; 8) utilize the Action Research Model to drive data-informed program development and enhancements; 9) measure and report program impact on incidence of youth violence, delinquency, and victimization; and 10) integrate the program model and system-based multidisciplinary coordination into the larger juvenile justice framework. The project will produce and be assessed for effectiveness through meeting attendance and participation, a strategic plan, policies/procedures/protocols, evaluation reports, training, survey(s) or other data collection instruments, outreach materials, semi-annual violence awareness campaign events, and programmatic reports.