JUNE 2015, VOLUME 5, NUMBER 6 

IN THIS ISSUE 

Long Beach Seeks Peer-Sharing Opportunities 

Alive and Free in Seattle 

Faith Communities Come Together in Violence Prevention 

Announcements and Upcoming Events 

• Funding opportunities 

• Training opportunities 

News and Views 

• Reports, Guidelines, and Briefs 

• News 

• Other Resources 

TIRELESS LONG BEACH LEADERS HUNGRY TO DO MORE, 

LEARN FROM OTHERS 

by Michael Hopps 

All but one of the Long Beach delegation at the 2015 National Summit on 

Preventing Youth Violence. See full story for names and titles. 

The 10-person delegation from Long Beach, Calif., who 

attended the National Summit on Preventing Youth 

Violence last month sat down together on the last day of 

the conference and began drafting an action plan. Many 

sessions at the Summit had fired the imaginations of team 

leader Neighborhood Relations Officer Tracy Colunga, 

Police Chief Robert Luna, School Superintendent 

Christopher Steinhauser, City Manager Representative 

Diana Tang, Health Director Kelly Colopy, City Prosecutor 

Doug Haubert, Pastor Gregory Sanders, and two youth 

leaders. But what the Long Beach leaders most wanted 

SEATTLE'S ALIVE & FREE HELPS YOUTH RECOVER 

FROM VIOLENCE 

by Marla Fogelman 

Alive and Free street outreach workers Mark Rivers and Brandon 

Shell participate in We Day at Seattle's Key Arena. 

Members of Seattle's YMCA Alive & Free program are 

passionate about their community, and their determination 

to get at-risk and gang-involved youth the services they 

need has inspired some of the city's most beloved icons. 

Just last September, the 13-person street outreach team 

donned green aprons to fill the mugs of Starbucks lovers 

along with Coach Pete Carroll and members of the famed 

Seattle Seahawks. Together, they raised money to bring 

programs and services to youths who are most at risk for 

violence. 

The mission of the Y's Alive & Free street outreach 

program—funded in the City of Seattle through the 

Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative—is to help 

youths make positive changes by connecting them with 

relevant services and opportunities. Seattle's Alive & Free 

program is a member of the national Alive & Free 

MovementTM, which "identifies violence as a public health 

issue." The program uses street outreach workers to 

teach youth how to stay free from the "disease" of 

violence. 

MORE » 

COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE 

Faith-Based Communities Unite Leaders 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

from their trip was to keep the conversations going 

between their own group and the groups they had met 

from the Youth Violence Prevention network's other cities. 

"We made a list of cities we were interested in sharing 

peer-to-peer learning with," Colunga recounted. "Then we 

voted." 

The favored city was Louisville, Ky., for a host of reasons. 

These included, according to Colunga, "its use of public 

health models and its very robust implementation, and 

what they do for crime prevention through environmental 

design." 

Within days of returning to Southern California, Colunga 

and her team put together a technical assistance request 

and sent it to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), 

asking for support to visit Louisville. 

MORE » 

ANNOUNCEMENTS & UPCOMING EVENTS 

Funding Opportunities 

Supporting At-Risk Youth and Young Fathers 

The Administration for Children and Families, Office of 

Family Assistance, is offering two funding opportunities to 

support at-risk youth and young at-risk fathers. New 

Pathways for Fathers and Families will help at-risk 

young fathers strengthen their relationship skills and 

employability. Grants awarded under the Healthy 

Marriage and Relationship Education solicitation will 

support training programs that promote healthy 

marriages. Applications for the grants are due July 7, 

2015. 

MORE » 

Training Opportunities 

IACP Announces Free Training on Child Trafficking 

The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) 

has launched free online training on child sex trafficking 

for frontline officers. This course teaches the physical and 

behavioral indicators of child sex trafficking, how to 

respond appropriately, and how to refer a case for further 

investigation. 

MORE » 

Across Youth Violence Prevention Initiatives 

by Jack Calhoun 

Through an entry-level job at a detention facility run by the 

Massachusetts Department of Youth Services, Eugene 

Schneeberg inadvertently found his life calling as a faithbased activist and youth advocate. Here, he was 

introduced to Straight Ahead Ministries, a group that serves 

youth in lock-up and gives them support on the street after 

their release. 

It's faith based," said Schneeberg, who described that faith 

as "a belief that under the pain, anger, and fear is a 

precious, wonderful, and unique child of God." 

Eventually his work with Straight Ahead led him to the 

Justice Department, where he has been since 2010. He is 

now the Department's director of faith-based and 

neighborhood partnerships. 

Faith Communities Take Unique Approaches 

Schneeberg offers that faith communities are different from 

other communities. They express their commitment to 

troubled kids in different ways: Some hold peace marches. 

Some host police–community dialogues. Some are in the 

middle of the policy process advocating for changes in law 

and funding. Some walk or ride with the police, intervening 

in so-called hot spots. Some use their facilities as a "safe 

place, a place for truce talks between gangs, a place for 

late-night basketball." No matter what the faith community 

does, Schneeberg pointed out, they have one thing in 

common: "a relational ministry, a willingness to engage 

kids, to forge relationships even with the angriest and the 

most violent." 

MORE » 

NEWS & VIEWS 

Reports 

A Review of Juvenile Drug Courts

Juvenile Drug Courts: A Process, Outcome, and 

Impact Evaluation features findings from an evaluation of 

nine juvenile drug court intervention programs, their 

processes, and key outcomes. The programs' 

effectiveness in reducing recidivism and improving social 

functioning is assessed, as well as their use of evidencebased approaches. 

MORE » 

News 

Bullying Rates Drop 

New data indicate bullying prevalence is at a record low. In 

the latest School Crime Supplement to the National 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crime Victimization Survey, bullying among students 12 

to 18 dropped from 28 percent to 22 percent after a 

number of years with no change. 

MORE » 

Other Resources 

Contact Us 

Send questions or feedback about the newsletter to 

NFYVP@dsgonline.com. 

Looking for a particular article? You can read past 

issues of the newsletter here. 

Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children 

This guide is an online resource for policymakers who 

address commercial sexual exploitation of children at 

state, local, and tribal levels. 

MORE » 

The National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention Newsletter is 

prepared under Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 

(OJJDP) Cooperative Agreement No. 2012–MU–FX–K009 with 

Development Services Group, Inc. 

The views, opinions, and content of this newsletter do not necessarily 

reflect the views, opinions, or policies of OJJDP.