"Tailor Made" School-Based Violence Interrupters

The YMCA of San Francisco will implement the Tailor Made School Based Violence Interrupters Project in middle and high schools in the San Francisco Unified School District. The purpose is to intervene with and reduce the incidents of violence on and surrounding school campuses and provide youth, their families, and schools with the tools and resources to prevent further incidents.

Tailor Made holds 20 years of experience offering programs and services centered on the evidence-based Restorative Practices framework. Tailor Made activities include evidence-based 1:1 case management; peer group work; wraparound support for families, workshops on making healthy lifestyle choices, gang and violence prevention, and substance use prevention; mentoring; court advocacy; and education supports. Youth and family voices inform all activities, partnering with Tailor Made so that each youth receives a plan of action tailored to their specific needs. Violence Interrupter Case Managers also provide school mediations and referrals and linkages to additional programs and services. Tailor Made will aid in critical incidents or crisis situations at or outside of school as one of five local community-based organizations that are part of the School Crisis Support Initiative (SCSI), which also includes the San Francisco Unified School District, the Department of Children, Youth and Their Families, and Juvenile Probation Department.

Expected outcomes include re-entry back to school or a new site; an improved school climate due to on-campus interventions; youth who are better prepared with tools to regulate emotion and control violence, thus preventing future incidents; improved communications and relationships among youth, families, the school and broader communities to prevent and reduce violence. Tailor Made will also utilize its SCSI network to expand these bridges throughout the San Francisco Unified School District. In addition, in conjunction with this network, Tailor Made will develop a school climate sustainability plan. Beneficiaries of the program include youth directly involved with violent incidents at school or the juvenile justice system, their families, and school communities.