Building community collaboration for school safety

In the wake of school-based acts of violence that shook the nation in May 2022, it is clear that school safety must be a priority for all. To address increasing safety concerns in schools and communities, LISC Safety & Justice will offer expert training and technical assistance to grantees of the OJJDP FY 2022 Enhancing School Capacity To Address Youth Violence program. LISC will work with designated schools in OJJDP grantee sites and their community-based partners to help them 1) build relationships, 2) establish common goals, and 3) identify strategies that align with safety priorities and resources within their communities.

LISC Safety & Justice will work with each grantee site to assess their strengths and needs, create work plans to address the needs, collaboratively implement the plans, measure progress, and plan for sustainability. LISC will offer broadly applicable resources to help grantees as well as the larger community safety field understand topics such as how to form effective partnerships, use data to identify appropriate evidence-based strategies, and measure success. In addition, LISC will provide tailored technical assistance to each site based on identified needs and will foster a peer sharing network so sites can learn from one another.

LISC Safety & Justice will leverage its expertise gained from serving as National TTA Provider to three Department of Justice programs (focusing on place-based community violence, rural violent crime, and school violence) to support program implementation and direct service activities. LISC will deploy its Safety & Justice staff and contract with several subject matter experts with which LISC has existing relationships to serve the OJJDP sites. These subject matter experts include National Center for School Safety, National Mentoring Resource Center, Center for Court Innovation, Urban Peace Institute, Dr. Wilson Kenney, and Donna Griffin.

As a result of LISC’s TTA, grantee sites will increase their ability create coordinated safety strategies that: provide youth and their families connection points within schools and their communities to receive support and resources when needed; reduce incidences of violence and perceptions of fear within the school and community; and can be sustained after the term of the grant is complete. This work to reduce school violence will benefit students, parents, teachers and school staff, as well as their surrounding communities.