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 National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention (Forum) was established by the White House in 2011 and is a network of cities united in their drive to prevent youth violence with federal agencies and private partners. The Forum has expanded to a total of 10 cities across the country implementing strategies and evidenced-based programs to reduce youth violence. The Departments of Justice, Education, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Labor as well as the Corporation for National and Community Service and the Office of National Drug Control Policy provide key supports to the Forum cities.
OJJDP provides funding to support the core activities in Forum cities linked to the approved comprehensive plans. Additionally, the U.S. Department of Education (ED), Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) has provided funding to the Forum cities to improve or expand the use of a "School-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports" (SWPBIS) framework.
The City of Salinas and Monterey County Office of Education (MCOE) will work together to implement and support activities related to the National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention by implementing the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) program in 45 schools in four Salinas school districts and MCOE's Court and Community schools. The project will increase the number of local schools implementing PBIS by tenfold and expand existing PBIS implementations by providing training in advanced tiers. The goal of implementing and expanding PBIS in Salinas schools is to promote positive changes in the culture of the school to prevent youth violence and illegal drug use. The target population is all children and youth in grades K-12 in Salinas's public schools, about 35,000 students.
PBIS Tier 1 training will be provided to teams of teachers, administrators, and other school staff in 41 schools and PBIS Tier 2 training will be provided to teams in four schools. Tier 1 training also includes training for teachers and District staff to become coaches to support and sustain PBIS implementation. Support will be provided for the Project Coordinator to become trained as a trainer, contributing to sustaining PBIS in Salinas and Monterey County.
The PBIS training will be complemented by in-school and community-based evidence-based programs and practices, including Botvin's Life Skills, Seven Challenges, anger management and anti-bullying education, parent training, and Cure Violence strategies. Baseline data covering discipline referrals, truancy, suspensions, and expulsions and results from the California Healthy Kids Survey will be gathered for future evaluations of PBIS. NCA/NCF
