National Youth Violence Prevention Training and Technical Assistance

Building upon its current national training and technical assistance (TTA) initiatives that have successfully created web-based resources and its on the ground practical experience creating youth violence prevention programming in New York City, Justice Innovation Inc. d/b/a Center for Justice Innovation (Center);and project partners John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Cure Violence Global, and Center for Employment Opportunities, will create the National Youth Violence Prevention TTA Program. The program will enhance the capacity of organizations and communities to develop, implement, and expand effective youth violence prevention and intervention practices across the nation, including addressing the impact of exposure to violence on youth. The program will highlight evidence-based and promising juvenile justice and youth violence prevention programs that incorporate best practices from a range of sources to increase knowledge of and enhance community capacity to implement the most innovative, quality, and effective practices to prevent youth violence. Program beneficiaries will be community-based organizations working directly with youth and families impacted by violence, community violence interruption projects, and system stakeholders such as juvenile justice system agencies and stakeholders or any other practitioner seeking to enhance their response to youth violence prevention and intervention.

During the project, the Center and partners will conduct the following primary activities; Conduct an assessment of the needs of the field to inform the development of a comprehensive TTA plan; Collaborate with grassroots, community-based providers to ensure community-led strategies are highlighted, by convening advisory boards; Develop the Youth Violence Prevention Resource website to serve as a hub of information and resources; Identify, develop, and disseminate deliverables related to best practices, evidence-based practices, research, and innovative strategies addressing youth violence prevention and intervention; Create, submit, and implement an overall technical assistance plan to support technical assistance requests; Develop and implement a TTA delivery plan; Establish learning communities and support peer-learning opportunities; and Develop and deliver informative webinars, conference sessions/workshops, technical assistance, and other trainings on a range of youth violence prevention topics.

The expected outcomes of these efforts are increasing knowledge about evidence-based and emerging practices in youth violence prevention; offering tailored support to communities; and promoting the type of collaboration between peers, providers, and the broader community response that incorporates youth and families with lived experience.