Boston's National Forum Capacity-Building Grant

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 Boston will use the grant funds to enhance the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support (PBIS) efforts at Boston Public Schools (BPS) to reduce student violence and illegal drug use by expanding the Comprehensive Behavioral Health Model (CBHM) to four additional schools. CBHM is the PBIS framework currently in use at BPS.

The goal of CBHM is to integrate accessible, equitable behavioral health services into Boston schools. PBIS is an essential element of CBHM, a proven model used by BPS to promote healthy, safe and supportive learning environments that optimize academic outcomes for all students across a continuum from prevention to intensive intervention.

The City of Boston will also collect, analyze and share information to guide programmatic decision making to prevent youth violence by investing in data collection and management information system support at Boston Centers for Youth and Families (BCYF).

Grant funding will increase BCYF's ability to collect, measure, and use participant outcomes data through expansion of participant surveys through their participant tracking system.

Grant funds will also support the building of an interface to share data among the key departments charged with the safety, education, and healthy development of Boston's youth, including BPS, BCYF, Boston Police Department, Boston Public Health Commission and Boston Public Library to better overlay critical information related to risk factors and indicators for healthy youth development.
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 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 Boston will utilize FY14 State and Community Development Invited award funds to use the public health approach to prevent youth violence by looking at underlying root causes and proactively addressing structural barriers. The City of Boston and its partners recognize that some forms of violence disproportionately burden the city's most vulnerable communities and that equity and justice require that these communities be first in line for the resources to help them defend their children. Violence and trauma are indicators of health inequities, and violence has ripple effects that contribute to poor health. By looking through a health equity lens the City of Boston can begin to address the disproportionate health burdens in Boston communities with the highest rates of violence, concentrated poverty and other social inequities. NCA/NCF