Forum on Youth Violence Prevention
Timeline
Fall 2014: The Forum Coordination Team (FCT) members conducted a series of site visits to the ten Forum cities. Each city has developed a strategic plan, and the visits provided a rare opportunity to witness the plan in action. Activities ranged from policy discussions with city and county leaders and U.S. Attorneys to night walks with street workers. The visits also allowed local and federal representatives to examine how the Forum might better support work on the local level in terms of resource provision and changes in policy. Both FCT and city representatives recommitted to forging together this vanguard national effort to reduce youth violence and to build communities that are safe and stable.
October 2014: Attorney General Eric Holder announced the expansion of the National Forum to five additional cities: Long Beach, California; Cleveland, Ohio; Louisville, Kentucky; Seattle, Washington; and Baltimore, Maryland.
March 2014: The Implementation Science Training Institute was held March 3–5, 2014, in Washington, D.C. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) event included grantees from the National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention, the Defending Childhood Initiative, and the Community-Based Violence Prevention initiative. More than 40 participants attended, in teams from Baltimore, Md.; Boston, Mass.; Camden, N.J.; Chicago, Ill.; Cleveland, Ohio; Detroit, Mich.; Grand Forks, N.D.; Kansas City, Mo.; Los Angeles, Salinas, and San Jose, Calif.; Memphis, Tenn.; Minneapolis, Minn.; Philadelphia, Pa.; and Portland, Maine. Federal staff also attended the training. The training was led by Allison Metz and Melissa Van Dyke, codirectors of the National Implementation Research Network. Learn more about the training and materials used.
December 2012: A Working Session was held December 10–11, 2012, in Washington, DC. Representatives from the four expansion sites had the opportunity to present an overview of current approaches to youth violence prevention efforts in their respective cities. Other panelists addressed issues of sustainability and capacity building. Breakout sessions focused on a variety of topics, from safe and supportive school discipline and information sharing to using housing as a platform for preventing youth violence.
Fall 2012: The Forum expanded to four new localities, Camden, Minneapolis, New Orleans and Philadelphia, and added new training and technical resources available not only to participating localities, but to any locality interested in implementing the Forum’s comprehensive approach.
April 2012: The second annual Youth Violence Summit took place in Washington, DC. At the Summit, localities presented updates on the implementation of their comprehensive plans. As with the previous summit, federal and local officials engaged with business, philanthropic, faith- and community based and other leaders to assess the opportunities and challenges of the Forum’s comprehensive approach. The Summit was open to the media and garnered significant favorable local press coverage. A highlight of the Summit was the engagement of youth leaders from every participating locality.
November 2011: A second Working Session was held in Washington. Over the course of two days, attendees participated in panel discussions, presentations, and facilitated discussions where they discussed the implementation of the cities’ comprehensive plans to prevent and reduce youth violence.
April 2011: The first annual Summit on Youth Violence Prevention (“Youth Violence Summit”) took place in Washington, DC. At the Youth Violence Summit, localities presented their comprehensive plans. Promising strategies were highlighted, and implementation challenges were identified. Representatives from federal agencies will continue to partner with localities to explore how existing federal resources can be identified and coordinated in support of those efforts. Portions of the Youth Violence Summit were open to the media in order to showcase the localities’ efforts and the federal government’s support of those efforts. Private, state, and local funders attended, and provided additional opportunities for localities to secure additional funding for their efforts.
March 2011: Localities completed their comprehensive plans.
October 2010 – February 2011: Building on the Working Session, participating localities visited each other to engage in peer-to-peer learning and develop their comprehensive plans. Federal interagency teams worked with localities, providing technical assistance as needed.
October 2010: The Forum Working Session (“Working Session”) took place in Washington. The Working Session was the official starting point for the development of the localities’ comprehensive plans. At the Working Session, participating jurisdictions discussed current efforts to prevent youth and gang violence and explored how they can be improved. Localities shared experiences and topical experts offered information on best practices. Representatives from federal agencies partnered with localities to explore how existing federal resources can be identified and coordinated in support of local efforts.
June – September 2010: Planning meetings for the Forum Working Session began. By September, localities had identified leads to (a) participate in the Forum and organize it at the local level, (b) attend the Forum Working Session in Washington, and (c) to spearhead the development of comprehensive plans that blend prevention, intervention, enforcement and reentry strategies.
May – July 2010: Local listening sessions took place. Interagency federal teams visited with and heard the experiences of local leaders, stakeholders, and youth. Federal team members varied from session to session, but consistently included representatives from the Departments of Justice and Education. These visits were intended to establish a candid local/federal dialogue about the youth violence issues and strategies employed by the participating localities. To promote open communication at these initial sessions, a number of small and informal meetings were held. A broad array of local stakeholders participated in the sessions, including senior members of the mayor’s office, local and federal law enforcement, education, public health, social service providers, community and faith-based organizations, research partners, and the private sector.
