ACHD Youth Violence Reduction

Grantees are funded under this initiative to develop program activities based on the core strategies of the Comprehensive Gang Model. Category 1, Intervention, supports intervention strategies that can dissuade youth from joining gangs and help them discontinue their involvement in gangs. Proposed strategies are built upon the principles of the following core strategies in the OJJDP Comprehensive Gang Model: Community Mobilization, Opportunities Provision, and Social Intervention. Allegheny County’s Office of Violence Prevention (OVP) will implement the evidence-based Cure Violence intervention in two of the communities with the highest rates of homicide - Wilkinsburg and Homewood (adjacent communities). These communities also share a school for grades 6–12, which is often the setting for neighborhood rivalries to play out. The proposed Cure Violence team will include one outreach worker, one violence interrupter, and a program coordinator, who will work with youth in the two communities daily. To complement this intervention, OVP will leverage existing contractors, such as a trauma response team, and Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh's hospital-based intervention for child shooting victims. A Violence Prevention Youth Advisory Board will also be created, to support efforts of the existing Violence Prevention Community Advisory Board. Youth who are reached by the Cure Violence team, in addition to other recruits, will be invited to join the Youth Advisory Board. Expected outcomes for Cure Violence participants include an increase in gang resistance, improvement in social competence, increase in employment, and increase in school completion. The anticipated impact will be a significant reduction in homicides in the target communities, especially among youth. CA/NCF