Daryl Fox: Good afternoon everyone, and welcome to the July 27, 2023, installment of “Today in Juvenile Justice: Administrator Update.” We’re glad you’re able to join us today. All audio lines are muted, as this is a listen-only briefing. For reference, this recording will be posted tomorrow to the OJJDP website. At this time, it’s my pleasure to introduce Liz Ryan, OJJDP Administrator, for today’s update.
Liz Ryan: Hello, welcome to “Today in Juvenile Justice.” I’m Liz Ryan, Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention—OJJDP.
I’ve scheduled these monthly calls to offer brief updates on OJJDP’s work and share insights on topics of interest to stakeholders like you—professionals devoted to serving youth, pursuing equity, and reforming the juvenile justice system.
Today I’m going to focus on resources and solutions—some of the ways OJJDP is assisting your efforts to support young people and their families, and promote community safety for everyone.
As you know, our Office provides funding to states, tribes, and communities to support prevention and intervention programs that address delinquency and enhance the juvenile justice system.
We also sponsor research to grow our knowledge base, and we fund training and technical assistance to ensure that youth justice stakeholders can access the resources they need.
While OJJDP’s efforts are advancing community safety and improving outcomes for youth impacted by the juvenile justice system, our work is not complete.
We all see news stories recounting violence and victimization in our communities. My staff and I take them to heart—especially when they involve young people.
I’d like to tell you about some of the ways OJJDP has increased our focus on reducing gun violence and violent crimes.
Enhancing School Safety To Address Youth Violence initiative is supporting a collaborative approach between schools and community-based organizations to address violence by youth—evidence-based prevention and intervention programs in school-based settings, for children and youth in kindergarten all the way through high school.
The initiative has two goals. First, it aims to reduce incidents of violence inside schools by focusing on school safety and climate. And second, it aims to prevent delinquency, violence by youth, and youth victimization in the community outside.
In 2022, OJJDP awarded nearly $25 million under this program—and we’ve just gotten started.
We’re also coordinating with two of our sister agencies—the Bureau of Justice Assistance and the Office for Victims of Crime—on the Community Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative.
Together, we support programs that address gang and gun violence through partnerships—collaborations involving residents, community-based organizations, local government agencies, law enforcement, providers of victim services, hospitals, researchers—the list of community stakeholders goes on.
These coordinated efforts will create safer communities by preventing and reducing violent crime through comprehensive, evidence-based intervention and prevention programs.
In fiscal year 2022, $20 million was awarded to support youth-focused programs managed by OJJDP under this initiative.
We also provide funding to the National Gang Center, which engages and empowers those in local communities with chronic and emerging gang problems to create comprehensive solutions to prevent gang violence, reduce gang involvement, suppress gang crime and violence, and assist former members who want to reform their lives.
The Center disseminates essential knowledge and evidence-based practices to communities.
OJJDP also funds Strategies To Support Children Exposed to Violence, allocating nearly $7 million to the program last year.
This program provides services to children who have been exposed to violence and helps communities develop and implement prevention and early intervention strategies to support children exposed to violence.
At root, these efforts are about community safety. By supporting young people, offering them choices and access to positive opportunities, they help youth become community-minded citizens whose decisions and contributions benefit us all.
Thank you for joining me to hear about OJJDP’s work to address youth violence and victimization and ensure community safety.
You can find additional information and resources on our website at OJJDP.ojp.gov.
Our next scheduled call is on August 24 at 3 p.m. eastern standard time. Thanks again for joining us today.
