Juvenile Probation Officers and Engagement Specialists based in Community Schools-Engaging Youth and Families in Diversion and Support Services to Enhance School Capacity to Address Youth Violence.

The Gila River Indian Community proposes to create a School Justice Partnership Committee, a system-level collaborative partnership. The purpose for the Committee is to create a strategic plan to guide the juvenile probation department in working in the schools located on the Gila River Indian Community reservation. Project activities include creating partnerships with service providers; placing juvenile probation officers into the school to identify and assist youth who need "backpack" services; create Engagement Specialsist/Resource Navigator positions to work with youth and family in their home to address familial needs and youth's issues which may result in behavioral issues at school; training for stakeholders, service providers, youth, and their families; creating a database to track and utilize data; and hold monthly education and cultural classes for the youth and their families. The expected outcomes include reducing the number of youth suspended or expelled due to classroom behavior, to increase school safety, and to locate the invisible population of school aged youth not enrolled in school, and to assist the family to enroll those youth into school. Persons at risk of being involved in the juvenile justice system of the Gila River Indian Community are the intended beneficiaries of the project.