Violence Intervention and Technical Assistance Program

OJJDP's State and Community Development Invited Awards program was established to provide grants and cooperative agreements to organizations that OJJDP has selected for funds in prior years. This program has been authorized by an Act appropriating funds for the Department of Justice.

The Columbia Heights Shaw Family Support Collaborative (CH/SFSC) will use FY14 State and Community Development Invited funds to extend the Community-Based Violence Prevention (CBVP) program into Ward 7 in the District of Columbia. This is one of the major areas where youth violence and family dysfunction continue to plague the community. The supplement will offer the District of Columbia a unique opportunity to enhance CH/SFSC and their partners' success experienced under the 2010 CBVP program, as well as allow the District of Columbia to scale up and institutionalize a proven police-community-government partnership to not only reduce, but contribute towards ending youth violence in key neighborhoods in the nation's capital. The funding will enable CH/SFSC and partners to continue to work in the existing selected communities while enhancing efforts towards changing community norms regarding violence, providing alternatives to violence, and increasing awareness of the perceived risks and costs of involvement in violence among high-risk young people in the extended service area. This funding will also be aligned with the Bureau of Justice funded Project Safe Neighborhoods that CH/SFSC is currently coordinating in Ward 7. NCA/NCF

OJJDP's State and Community Development (Invited) Awards program was established to provide grants and cooperative agreements to organizations that OJJDP has selected for funds in prior years. Through the Community-Based Violence Prevention Program (CBVP), OJJDP funds organizations working to reduce youth gun and gang violence through evidence-based models. These programs have been authorized by an Act appropriating funds for the Department of Justice.

The funds from this award will enable Collaborative Solutions for Communities (CSC) to deepen its work with faith-based entities in Washington, D.C. by offering capacity-building training and technical assistance and engaging faith leadership in strategic planning and decision-making with CSC leadership. The project will form a 20-member Interfaith Leadership Group, consisting of high-risk youth in the judicial system, police officers, faith leaders, and judiciary representatives. This project will help faith leaders develop a better understanding of community needs and the strategies that work most effectively in addressing those needs. Additionally, the project will create an action plan with gang intervention/prevention strategies informed by diverse entities and sources. Faith leaders will take part in monthly strategic planning and decision-making meetings, quarterly training on gang intervention/prevention strategies such as Family Group Conference, Solution-Focused Brief Therapy, Critical Incident Protocol, and Restorative Practices. The Interfaith Leadership Group will create a gang intervention/prevention action plan that is informed by multiple sources, to include research publications, evaluation reports, and site visits to existing programs. The funds will also support travel for representative of the CSC team to attend the OJJDP fall 2015 convening including all youth and faith leaders who comprise the Interfaith Leadership Group.

CA/NCF