Empowering Schools: AFY’s Approach to Address Youth Violence

Adult Friends for Youth (AFY) is proposing the Empowering Schools: AFY’s Approach to Address Youth Violence project. The purpose is to bring about systemic change that addresses youth violence and creates a safer environment at Keelikolani Middle School and its surrounding community. The project will also help to reduce truancy and academic failure that plague this specific community. This project will target youth who come from disadvantaged neighborhoods where violence, crime, and drugs are a normal part of everyday life. The majority of youth that AFY serves come from historically marginalized populations which include the following ethnicities: Micronesian/Chuukese, Native Hawaiian, Other Pacific Islander, and Asian/Filipino. This project will serve a population and community that is predominantly Micronesian/Chuukese. While project deliverables will specifically address the needs of Keelikolani Middle School, AFY will provide ancillary services to the elementary and high school that are feeders to Keelikolani to maximize project impact over time. Project stakeholders, including youth and family members, will collaborate to find the program(s) that provide services which best fit their individual needs, providing them with a diverse “backpack” of services that takes the “whole” individual into account. Key steps involved in project execution: 1) Plan and Build, 2) Assessment, 3) Evaluation, 4) Adjustments/Improvements, and 5) Sustainment. Primary activities include: 1) Referrals, 2) Youth/family outreach and engagement, 3) Orientation, 4) Assessment, 5) Individual Service Plan, 6) Monitoring, and 7) Data Analysis.