Building School Capacity in Baltimore City

Through this project, The University of Maryland School of Social Work's Center for Restorative Change will implement Building School Capacity in Baltimore City -- Reducing Youth Violence Through Multi-Tiered Systems of Support. The purpose of this project is to strengthen school safety and partnerships that will improve school climate and reduce youth violence for the children of Baltimore City and their families. Project activities include establishing multi-disciplinary teams that will use evidence-based frameworks; producing tools to assess student risk for involvement in violence; developing and implementing policies and procedures to address school-level interventions, disproportionality and bias in discipline practices, and trauma-responsive best practices; and creating a process to receive feedback from school communities and partners. Expected outcomes include preventing and reducing instances of school-based violence involving students; improving positive and supportive school climates; as well as improving relationships between families, community-based organizations, and school staff to increase engagement around school safety issues. Partner activities include training and coaching for the multi-disciplinary teams on de-escalating conflicts; restorative practices training and implementation support for school staff; targeted support for youth and families; youth violence-prevention advocacy; and developing student leader groups.