OSHN Secondary Gang Prevention Program

The Louisville Office for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods’ Secondary Gang Prevention Program will hire a Project Specialist to serve as the backbone coordinator of the city’s collective impact approach to reduce the number of youths recruited for membership by gangs within the city. Clients will be referred to the program from a variety of partner agencies to include Jefferson County Public Schools, Louisville Police Department, the Pivot to Peace Community Violence Intervention Initiative, Juvenile Court, the Louisville Youth Network, and a multitude of community-based organizations. An assessment tool will be created to identify appropriate clients during the intake process to ensure the project is serving the highest risk youth for gang involvement. Eligible candidates are youth between the ages of 13-17. A priority will be placed on those youth residing within the city’s twenty most violence blocks as identified by LMPD crime data. A multidisciplinary team will review each case and collectively, with input from the youth and family, create short- and long-term case plans for successful intervention. While multiple risk factors will be addressed, emphasis will be placed upon individual and family risk factors. Case plans will include cognitive behavioral interventions, life skills training and family-based counseling, with an emphasis on Functional Family Therapy- Gang (FFT-G) and Multisystemic Therapy (MST). It is anticipated that two hundred youth will be served during the project period.