Announcement by Attorney General Eric Holder
Seattle Accepted into National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention
The Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative (SYVPI) received notification this month that Seattle has been selected as one of five new cities to join the National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention, a network of communities and federal agencies that work together, share information and build local capacity to prevent and reduce youth violence. Participating cities are selected based on need, geographic diversity and willingness and capacity to undertake comprehensive efforts that are the hallmark of the Forum. The five cities--Baltimore, Cleveland, Long Beach, Louisville, and Seattle--will join the ten existing member cities: Boston, Camden, Chicago, Detroit, Memphis, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Salinas, and San Jose.
Seattle's acceptance into the group was prompted in part by presentations made in September 2013 by SYVPI Director Mariko Lockhart and Eleuthera Lisch, then-director of the Metrocenter YMCA Alive & Free Street Outreach Network, at the Summit on Preventing Youth Violence in Arlington, Virginia. As members of several panel presentations, they shared insights into SYVPI's success in building and maintaining collaborative partnerships with public and private groups.
Each of the new cities will receive an initial set of funds--in the form of planning grants--to begin the work that has been so successful in the original Forum cities. Each city will be eligible for additional support once they develop plans for coordinating resources, engaging in community outreach, and involving new stakeholders.
Seattle's planning will focus on addressing the gap in services for young adults 18 to 24 years old who are "aging out" of SYVPI (which focuses primarily on youth ages 12 to 17) but are still at risk and in need of support. This planning process will bring together many groups and institutions that are tackling the challenge of service gaps for this older group.
In 2011, homicide was the third leading cause of death for all U.S. youth ages 15-24
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National Center for Health Statistics]
The Forum was established at the direction of President Obama in 2010 to bring together people from diverse professions and perspectives to learn from each other about the crisis of youth and gang violence in the U.S and to build comprehensive solutions on the local and national levels. The Forum operates on three key principles:
- Multidisciplinary partnerships are key to tackling this complex issue - police, educators, public health and other service providers, faith and community leaders, parents, and kids, must all be at the table.
- Communities must balance and coordinate their prevention, intervention, enforcement and reentry strategies.
- Data and evidence-driven strategies must inform efforts to reduce youth violence in our country.
The addition of the new cities was announced by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder at an event in Baltimore. More details about the Forum's goals and city plans, toolkit and assessments are available at: http://findyouthinfo.gov/youth-topics/preventing-youth-violence/about-national-forum
