Safer Tomorrows: Ending Childhood Exposure to Violence Project

OJJDP's State and Community Development 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 Attorney General's Children Exposed to Violence Demonstration Program will develop and support comprehensive community-based strategic planning and implementation efforts to prevent and reduce the impact of children's exposure to violence in their homes, schools, and communities.

The Safer Tomorrows Project is a collaborative project in Grand Forks County, ND, designed to prevent childhood exposure to violence (CEV) and enhance protective factors, reduce the harmful impacts of exposure when it occurs, and increase knowledge and public awareness about CEV. The target population includes children ages 0 to 17 exposed to the following forms of violence, as well as their families and the larger community: physical/sexual abuse, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking/cyber-stalking, children experiencing domestic violence, bullying and community violence.

Safer Tomorrows will accomplish three primary goals:
1. Prevent childrens initial and repeated exposure to violence while promoting resiliency.
2. Reduce the negative impact of CEV and promote healing.
3. Enhance the community's understanding of CEV through data collection, analysis, and education.

The project works closely with the Center for Court Innovation (CCI) to measure progress toward goals. In addition to collection and monitoring of all required performance measures, CCI conducted a county-wide survey in 2011 to address community awareness and prevalence of CEV; this survey will be conducted again in 2014. Aggregate community data is also collected, and CEV-related questions are included in youth risk behavior surveys at area schools to measure change.

Project funds are not used to conduct research.

NCA/NCF

OJJDP's State and Community Development 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 City of Grand Forks' "Safer Tomorrows Project" is an collaborative project designed to prevent childhood exposure to violence (CEV), enhance protective factors, reduce the harmful impacts of exposure when it occurs, and increase public awareness about CEV. The target population includes children ages 0 to 17, their families and community who have been exposed to violence. Grand Forks will utilize FY14 State and Community Development Invited Award funds to continue to meet the following goals of the project: 1) Prevent children's initial and repeated exposure to violence while promoting resiliency and taking steps toward project sustainability; 2) Reduce the negative impact of CEV and promote healing and resiliency, while taking steps toward project sustainability; and 3) Enhance community understanding of CEV through data collection and education, while taking steps toward project sustainability. NCA/NCF