National Forum on Youth
Violence Prevention
Presentation to Mayor Francis Slay’s
Commission on Children, Youth & Families
April 19, 2012
Rev. Starsky D. WIlson
Deaconess Foundation
The Forum
A Network of communities and federal
agencies that work together, share
information and build capacity to prevent
and reduce youth violence
The Forum
• Established by President Obama in 2010 to build a
national conversation concerning youth and gang
violence
• Models a new kind of federal/local collaboration
• Convenes a diverse array of stakeholders
• Provides federal capacity building assistance,
coordinated funding and supportive network to
Forum sites
Forum Goals
• Elevate youth & gang violence as an issue of
national significance
• Enhance the capacity of localities, as well as
others across the country, to more effectively
prevent youth & gang violence
• Sustain progress and systems change through
engagement, alignment & assessment
Participating Federal Agencies
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Department of Justice
Department of Education
Department of Health & Human Services
Department of Housing & Urban Development
Department of Labor
Office of National Drug Control Policy
Participating Communities
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Boston, MA
Chicago, IL
Detroit, MI
Memphis, TN
Salinas, CA
San Jose, CA
Three Operating Principles
• Multi-disciplinary partnerships are key
• Communities must balance and coordinate
prevention, intervention, enforcement & reentry strategies
• Data and evidence-driven strategies must
inform efforts
Multi-Disciplinary Partnerships
• Coordination of diverse partners:
– law enforcement
– education
– labor
– social services
– public health
– businesses
– philanthropic organizations
– faith- and community-based organizations
– parents and youth
Balanced Approach
• Strategies should be broad-based and balanced:
– Prevention efforts spanning from early childhood into young
adulthood, such as
• youth development
• family support
• school
• community mentoring
• school-based and out-of-school recreational activities
– “Relational” Intervention and Enforcement programs that
engage with high‐risk and gang‐involved youth
– Reentry programs that plan for returning youthful offenders
prior to their release
Data Driven Strategies
• Data sharing should be inclusive of all stakeholder agencies
• Integrate a wide-range of data from a variety of sources
including
– law enforcement
– education
– public health
– child protection/welfare
– Labor
– housing
• Collaboration is enhanced by embracing principles of
distributed intelligence – many perspectives better than just
one
Comprehensive Planning
• Initiatives must be well planned to ensure:
– Organizational alignment
– Work to achieve a shared vision
– All parties have a common set of measurements
to gauge the effectiveness of the work
– Regular adjustments can be made to the plan
based local outcomes and opportunities
Summit on Preventing Youth Violence
• Washington, DC - April 2-3, 2012
• More than 250 participants from Forum cities, government
agencies, faith/community-based organizations, private
partners, philanthropy & the White House
• Select non-Forum cities invited
• St. Louis Representatives
– Rev. Starsky D. Wilson, Deaconess Foundation
– Ms. Heidi Veron, Saigh Foundation
Summit Highlights
• Highest level of inter-departmental participation
• Reports on comprehensive approaches & results from
Forum cities
• Skill-building Sessions
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Community-School Partnerships
Taking a Public Health Approach & Data-Sharing
Relationships between Law Enforcement & Youth
Responding to Youth Trauma
Philanthropy & Funding Innovation
Anti-Drug Campaigns & Cause-Related Marketing
Summit Highlights (Cont’d)
• Launch of www.findyouthinfo.gov
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Strategic Planning Toolkit
Promoting collaboration
Disseminating key funding opportunities
Highlighting promising strategies
• Additional capacity building grants to Forum Cities
• Announcement of desired expansion to four (4) new
cities
Reflections from StL Representatives
• WE WANT IN!
– Key Selection Factors:
• Demonstrated need
• Illustration of multidisciplinary leadership commitment
• All the “promising practices” are here (or forming), they
simply need to be aligned (& a compelling reason to do so)
• To be most competitive, St. Louis application effort would
need to be led by the Mayor’s office & include regional
participation
Sources
• National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention,
Summit on Preventing Youth Violence (Washington,
DC: April 2-3, 2012)
• “Focus on Youth Violence” Presentation to St. Louis
Health Funders Group by Lindsay Matush (Brown
Sisters Foundation) & Heidi Veron (Saigh Foundation)
• www.findyouthinfo.gov