Violence Free Zone Youth Anti violence Initiative

The Center for Neighborhood Enterprise (CNE) will advance its implementation of the Violence Free Zones (VFZ) Initiative in the cities of Dallas, TX, Milwaukee, WI, Baltimore, MD and Washington, DC by providing capacity building technical assistance to community amd faith-based organizations. Specifically, CNE will refine and standardize VFZ selection and training curricula across the sites, document their experiences and best practices for publication, thereby improving the ability of the four local partner organizations to provide services on a sustained basis. Program elements to be funded include technical assistance to strengthen youth gang intervention and mediation; character coaching, mentoring and life skills development; substance abuse referral and support; employment assessment, training, and placement; educational opportunities; community development; and enlistment of youth advisors to aid in keeping the peace in high-crime neighborhoods and schools. Progress will be measured by 1) the decrease in incidents of violence and misconduct/violations in targeted schools, 2) increase in school attendance, 3) decrease in the number of suspension due to disruptive behavior, and 4)improvements in positive responses to question the student and teacher climate surveys. NCA/NCF