FEBRUARY 2015, VOLUME 5, NUMBER 2 

IN THIS ISSUE 

Mayoral Transitions 

Boston's Participatory Budgeting Project 

Announcements and Upcoming Events 

• Funding opportunities 

• Training opportunities 

News and Views 

• Reports, Guidelines, and Briefs 

• News 

• Other Resources 

FORUM TO ENDURE THROUGH POLITICAL 

TRANSITIONS 

Nearly everyone knows the saying about the two things 

certain in life: death and taxes. This brief list of 

inevitabilities could include a third item: political transition. 

The changes in government from one mayor's 

administration to the next can be an uncertain time for 

those engaged in public policy planning and 

implementation. As power changes hands and priorities 

are restructured, what was popular yesterday rapidly 

becomes irrelevant. 

How do we deal with this inevitability? "How" can best be 

answered by deciding "when." And when is as soon as 

possible. 

BOSTON YOUTHS MAKE CITY'S ENDS MEET 

Before we are old enough to vote, we're taught about civic 

responsibility. Making choices to select our nation's leaders, 

build better budgets, and improve our schools and 

communities—we learn early that many fought hard for this 

right. 

But casting a ballot means different things to different people. 

For some, it is an empowering expression of personal voice. 

For others, it means little more than fulfilling an obligation. 

What it symbolizes to young people is especially significant. 

When a promise prevails that things can and will change for 

the better—it just might inspire a lifetime of political 

engagement. 

Participatory Budgeting Fosters Civic Pride 

At 26, Shari Davis is one of the youngest city department 

heads in Boston, Mass., and a fierce supporter of involving 

young people in local government. She helped Boston lead 

its first Participatory Budgeting Project (PBP) dedicated 

entirely to youth, where teens and young adults decided how 

to spend $1 million of the city's capital funds. From its 

initiation, the program was youth driven, coordinated, and 

facilitated. 

Boston youths meet to brainstorm city improvements. 

MORE » 

NEWS & VIEWS 

Reports 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Minneapolis City Hall and Hennepin County Courthouse has 

been the site of 24 mayoral transitions since construction 

finished in 1906. 

MORE » 

ANNOUNCEMENTS & UPCOMING EVENTS 

Funding Opportunities 

Webinar to Help Law Enforcement Agencies Bid for

Justice and Mental Health Collaboration 

The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) is inviting 

criminal justice agencies to partner with mental health 

providers to form collaborative programs/partnerships to 

address justice-involved individuals with mental disorders 

or co-occurring substance use and mental health 

disorders. View BJA's Justice and Mental Health 

Collaboration Program grant solicitation here. 

Applications are due April 14, 2015. 

MORE » 

Training Opportunities 

Course Offered to Indian Country Professionals on

Understanding Drug-Endangered Children 

The National Alliance for Drug-Endangered Children and 

Lamar Associates are offering an online course, "DrugEndangered Children: Understanding the Risk," designed 

to help Indian Country service professionals a) identify the 

risk to children created by illegal drug activities, b) 

understand and be able to explain why the problems of 

U.S. School Campuses Tend to Use Sworn, Armed

Officers 

Campus Law Enforcement, 2011–12, by Brian Reaves, 

presents findings from a Bureau of Justice Statistics survey 

of campus law enforcement agencies in the United States 

covering the 2011–12 academic year. Among them: 

About 75 percent of the campuses were using armed 

officers, compared with 68 percent during 2004–05. 

About 92 percent of public campuses used sworn 

police officers, compared with 38 percent of private 

campuses. 

The large majority of sworn campus officers were 

authorized to use a sidearm (94 percent), chemical or 

pepper spray (94 percent), and a baton (93 percent). 

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News 

Fourth National Summit Approaches 

The Fourth National Summit on Youth Violence Prevention 

will be held May 11–13, 2015, in Washington, D.C. The site 

has not yet been determined. The Summit will provide 

opportunities for representatives from National Forum, 

Defending Childhood Initiative, and Community-Based 

Violence Prevention program cities to learn about new 

strategies for youth violence prevention, to share their 

experiences of what works in their communities, and to 

recommit themselves to the task of creating safe 

communities where youth and families can thrive. 

Attendance to the Summit is by invitation only. Invitations will 

be sent out soon. {Editor's note: We repeat ourselves. But 

the Summit comes only once a year.} 

MORE » 

Other Resources 

Juvenile Justice Office to issue Model Programs Guide 

Implementation Guides 

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 

(OJJDP), in conjunction with its contractor Development 

Services Group, Inc. (DSG), is developing the Model 

Program Guide's (the MPG's) first Implementation Guide, on 

school-based bullying prevention programs. 

MORE » 
 

 

 

 

drug-endangered children are often overlooked, and c) 

describe the roles that practitioners can play in identifying, 

intervening with, and preventing drug use in children. 

Register here. 

MORE » 

Contact Us 

Send questions or feedback about the newsletter to 

NFYVP@dsgonline.com or subscribe. 

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.