Featured Grant OpportunitySchool Emergency Response to Violence (Project SERV) (Funding Opportunity) 

Featured Grant OpportunityShare with Youth: NOAA Student Opportunities Database

Featured Grant OpportunityShort Courses in Social Determinants of Health for Research Education in Nursing Research (Funding...

Featured Grant OpportunityComprehensive Partnerships to Advance Cancer Health Equity (CPACHE) Program (Funding Opportunity)

Featured Grant OpportunityRisk and Protective Factors of Family Health and Family Level Interventions (Funding Opportunity)

Featured Grant OpportunityPersonnel Development to Improve Services and Results for Children with Disabilities--Doctoral...

Featured Grant OpportunityStanding Announcement for Tribal Title IV-E Plan Development Grants (Funding Opportunity)

Featured Grant OpportunityProviding Research Education Experiences to Enhance Inclusivity for a Diverse Substance Use and...

Featured Grant OpportunityFY 2024 Research on School-Based Hate Crimes (Funding Opportunity)

Featured Grant OpportunityChallenge America (Funding Opportunity)

Featured Grant OpportunityResearch and Evaluation on Firearm Violence and Mass Shootings (Funding Opportunity)

Featured Grant OpportunityNational Juvenile Court Data Archive (Funding Opportunity)

Featured Grant OpportunityGraduate Research Fellowship (Funding Opportunity)

Featured Grant OpportunityCommunity Programs for Outreach and Intervention with Youth and Young Adults at Clinical High Risk...

Featured Grant OpportunityPrint and Disseminate Child Victims and Witnesses Support Materials (Funding Opportunity)

## Breadcrumb

            -           Six Cities Present Plans to Reduce and Prevent Youth Violence      

# Six Cities Present Plans to Reduce and Prevent Youth Violence

*The following post appears courtesy of Laurie O. Robinson, Assistant Attorney General, Office of Justice Programs*

Statistics tell us that crime rates are down. However, many communities still face challenges when it comes to preventing and reducing youth violence.  That’s why President Obama launched the Forum on Youth Violence Prevention  last year, and it’s why representatives from six cities were in Washington, D.C., on April 4-5, 2011.  Officials from Boston; Chicago; Detroit; Memphis, Tenn.; Salinas, Calif.; and San Jose, Calif., have spent the past several months preparing plans detailing how they can work within their communities to address youth violence.  They presented their plans at the Summit on Preventing Youth Violence hosted by the Department of Justice and other federal agencies, including the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Labor, and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Each city’s plan incorporates multi-disciplinary partnerships, balanced approaches, and data-driven strategies for real, sustainable progress.  Ultimately, we expect that those plans will help these cities drive down crime and improve outcomes for kids, not just for a month or two but for years to come.

Attorney General Eric Holder, Special Advisor to the President Valerie Jarrett, and Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, M.D., all expressed their support for the Forum and the work of these six cities.  We also know that this week’s meeting is just the beginning.  This is a long-term project for our nation, but a necessary one.  We aren’t looking for quick, cosmetic changes.  We want long-lasting results.  And we’re working together to get them.

As the Attorney General said:

*Our children are counting on us.  Our communities are counting on us.  And we cannot – and will not – let them down.*

*This is not just our professional obligation – this is our moral calling.*

*Our nation will be defined, and its progress will be determined, by the support that we provide – and the doors that we open – for our young people.  The priorities that we set now are what will allow America’s next generation of leaders to rise above the current threats and obstacles and seize tomorrow’s opportunities.  This is our great test – and, in many ways, it is the single most consequential challenge we face in determining America’s future.*

This week’s Summit was part of a national conversation about youth violence.  We need to continue to add new voices to this effort.  Our goals are ambitious—they require more hard work and more difficult conversations—but they are attainable.  And they’re worth our time, energy, and investment.  We can’t afford to stand for a violent epidemic that robs our youth of their childhood and perpetuates a cycle in which today’s victims become tomorrow’s criminals.  We need to put our communities—and our kids—on better footing for the future.

For more information on the National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention, please see FindYouthInfo's new "Preventing Youth Violence" page.

### Announcements

Share with Youth: American Connection Corps

Share with Youth: NASA Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP) Innovation and Tech Transfer Idea Competition (MITTIC)

Resource: Using the Summer and Afterschool Needs Assessment to Drive Program Quality: A Companion Guide

Webinar Series: Building Your Program: Empowering Grassroots Mentoring

Resource: Comprehensive Systems Integration for Adolescent and Young Adult Health (CSI-AYAH)

### Feature Article

Youth Voices Have Moved to YE4C

Just Launched! Redesigned YE4C

4-H Expands To New Audiences

AmeriCorps NCCC: Strengthening Communities and Developing Leaders

How much do you know about...4-H and Positive Youth Development?

### Federal Links

Youth Advisory Councils

Report: AmeriCorps Alumni Outcomes Study

Resource: Community HealthSim

Resource: Final Round of Promise Zone Communities

Reports: AmeriCorps NCCC and FEMA Corps Deployment