Safe Start anti-violence demonstration study in Detroit with children and families

The Safe Start Promising Approaches Project will develop and support practice enhancements and innovations to prevent and reduce the impact of children's exposure to violence in their homes and communities. The project will help communities implement collaborative and evidence-based practices across the services continuum for children and their families. Exposure to violence includes being a victim of violence or a witness to violence, and encompasses abuse, neglect or child maltreatment, domestic violence, and community violence.
This program is authorized by Sections 261 and 262 of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, as amended (42 USC 5665-5666). The 10 pilot sites will test various evidence-based enhancements and practice innovations such as AF-CBT, TF-CBT, Strengthening Families Program, Coping Resources and other interventions in community-based settings such as DV shelters, libraries, Head Start, community mental health clinics and afterschool clubs. NCA/NCF

OJJDP has a specific mission to develop and disseminate knowledge about what works to prevent juvenile delinquency and violence and improve the effectiveness of the juvenile justice system. The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, 42 U.S.C. § 5601 et seq authorizes the Administrator of OJJDP to conduct research or evaluations and undertake statistical analyses on a wide range of juvenile justice matters. OJJDP also provides funding to states and localities to carry out research, evaluation, and statistical analyses.

The program site, Alternatives for Girls (AFG), plans to implement an enhanced version of the Strengthening Families Program (SFP), an evidence-based program. The SFP is a 14-week prevention program specific to high-risk families of children ages 3-16. The curriculum teaches parents parenting skills, children life skills, and families functioning mechanisms. Sessions are often preceded by a meal that includes informal family practice time and group leader coaching. Parents and children participate in the workshops, both separately and together. The proposed enhancements are based on social capital theory and psychological first aid (PFA) include the following: (1) workshops to educate youth and their families about strategies to cope with violence and reduce its impact; and (2)one-on-one intensive family case management, goal planning, and referrals to respond to the specific needs of each family. CA/NCF

This program furthers the Department's mission by providing grants and cooperative agreements for research and evaluation activities to organizations that OJJDP designates.

The Safe Start Promising Approaches project supports the development and study of the practice enhancements and innovations to prevent and reduce the impact of children's exposure to violence in their homes and communities. The eight continuation projects serve as the practice pilots for a multi-site national evaluation using experimental and quasi-experimental research design to test the effectiveness of new approaches to improve outcomes for children exposed to violence in real world community-based settings. The national evaluation is being conducted by RAND and supported through OJJDP research funding. The project helps communities implement collaborative and evidence-based practices across the service continuum.

Alternatives For Girls (AFG) and partners propose to implement a Safe Start project that addresses both direct and indirect effects of violence, with the aim of strengthening social capital through the development of a comprehensive coalition against violence and the strategic enhancement of a best-practice curriculum, Strengthening Families Program. To address the violence crisis in Detroit, and to meet the particular needs of female children and youth, several experienced and well-respected agencies, building off their past and current histories of collaboration, will implement a violence prevention project to serve girls and young women (ages 3 to 16) and their families with a focus on southwest Detroit. This collaboration uses intergenerational interventions for reducing violence and addressing its impact on children and their families, thus strengthening leadership both for the present and the long-term future. This effort will provide intensive and structured programming in both English and Spanish, and work to impact violence in both the community and in local schools. The proposed project will serve 100 families, and engage 150 youth annually.

NCA/NCF