The MYVP will support program interventions developed through adaptations, refinements, and modifications of promising violence prevention and crime reduction models that are tailored to at-risk minority male youth (10-18 years old) and integrate a problem solving approach, -- such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) problem-solving model or the COPS Office “Scanning, Analysis, Response and Assessment (SARA) problem solving model . These approaches should simultaneously address public health and public safety concerns and be tailored to at-risk minority male youth. Services provided under MYVP will not be denied to any person based on race, color, national origin, or gender. This demonstration program requires a coordinated strategy and multi-partner approach. Applications to the MYVP must be comprised of collaborative partnerships (established by means of a letter(s) of commitment) of which the applicant is the lead. At minimum, the partnership must include one public health agency and one law enforcement agency; one of which may be the lead applicant. Applicants should demonstrate a partnership among disciplines, and include public health, law enforcement, and other criminal justice/public safety stakeholders, and organizations that specifically provide minority youth violence prevention services (e.g. community policing programs, juvenile services and the courts). Applicants must identify an established or promising violence prevention/crime reduction model and integrate the CDC public health or the SARA model to address the specific problem(s) identified among at-risk minority male youth in the target community. Applicants may adapt, refine or replicate the model to propose interventions that will contribute to the following overall expected MYVP results:
- Improved coordination, collaboration, and linkages among state and/or local law enforcement, public health, social services and private entities to address youth violence and crime prevention;
- Improved academic outcomes among MYVP participants;
- Reduction in negative encounters with law enforcement;
- Increased access to needed public health and/or social services;
- Reduction in community violence and crimes perpetrated by minority youth
- Reduction in violent crimes against minority youth.
Proposed interventions may combine adaptations/modifications or refinements of one or more models designed to address violence prevention and crime reduction through utilization of a public health approach. Interventions should be designed to reduce risk behaviors and increase resiliency factors among at-risk minority male youth in targeted communities. All proposed interventions must include active participation of representatives from law enforcement and public health entities. Examples of activities supported through MYVP may include:
- Hospital-based interventions targeting victims of violence and their families;
- Cultural immersion interventions designed to improve self-esteem, promote positive self images and self-accomplishment;
- Interventions focused on youth development that include stress management, anger management, and school drop-out prevention and address absenteeism and other factors that contribute to higher rates of expulsion from school.
- Joint fitness programs for community youth and police officers.
Successful applicants will be expected to work as a cohort with cross-site evaluation and technical assistance efforts coordinated and supported through the COPS Office. These efforts may include, but are not limited to, regularly scheduled teleconferences to share challenges, successes, and project-specific technical assistance. A toolkit will be developed that documents the work of each grantee and will serve as a guidebook to enable jurisdictions across the country to replicate these programs, tailoring prevention and intervention strategies to their individual communities. The coordinating entity for the MYVP evaluation component will be selected through a competitive process to be jointly announced by the COPS Office and OMH later in FY 2014.