DC Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation

Effective Youth Development Initiative

 

Contact: Thandor Miller, DC Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation

 

Primary Geographic Focus:  Citywide, including wards 7 and 8

 

Funding (October 2007 – September 2008)

·        $495,000 Violence Intervention Partnership

·        $90,000 Girl Gang Reduction

·        $495,000 Truancy Reduction

·        $360,000 Youth Programs In New Communities

·        $947,250 allocated for annual grants in wards 7 & 8 (as of January 2008)

 

Duration: 2006 and ongoing

 

Program Areas: Children, youth and families, education, housing, community development

 

Grantees (2006-2007):           

·        The Alliance of Concerned Men         

·         Center for Child Protection & Family Support                     

·        CityDance Ensemble

·        Earth Conservation Corps

·        East of the River Clergy Police Community Partnership

·        Facilitating Leadership in Youth (FLY)

·        Healthy Families Thriving Communities Collaborative Council

·        LifeSTARTS Youth & Family Services! (formerly the East Capitol Center for Change)

·        Parklands Community Center

·        Peaceoholics

·        Positive Choices, Inc.

·        RISE (Reaching Inside for Self-Esteem)

 

Mission: The Trust’s mission is three-fold:

 

1. to design strategies that consistently promote the importance of investing in children and youth;
2. to support strategic alliances that strengthen the quality, quantity and accessibility of services and opportunities that foster the healthy development of children and youth; and
3. to create an evaluation framework designed to measure the effectiveness of individual programs and youth-serving agencies throughout the District of Columbia.

The Effective Youth Development Initiatives benefiting wards 7 and 8 are:      

 

·        Violence Intervention Partnership

·        Girl Gang Reduction

·        Truancy Reduction

·        Youth Programs In New Communities

 

The Trust also offers an annual, citywide grants program for in- and out-of-school activities, as well as parent support.

 

Background Details

 

District leaders endorsed a citywide  DC Youth Development Strategy in 2005. The strategy focuses on reducing youth violence and improving youth services across public agencies. To meet these goals, the District government funds select youth-serving nonprofit organizations through the Effective Youth Development Initiative. The DC Children & Youth Investment Trust Corporation manages the initiative by evaluating proposals, monitoring grant funds and analyzing results.

 

The DC Children & Youth Investment Trust Corporation awarded the first grants related to the youth development strategy in 2006. While a formal evaluation of those grants will not be complete until early 2008, preliminary lessons learned, community feedback, youth retreats and input from the strategy’s executive working group have informed 2007’s funding priorities. They are:

 

·        Violence Intervention Partnerships, which include educators, community leaders, public officials, law enforcement officers, nonprofit organizations, the faith-based community, and youth outreach workers. This partnership of “first responders” reacts to violent or potentially violent incidents in schools or in neighborhoods by arriving at the scene to provide conflict resolution services. Next, a partnership of “second responders” provides social services to the youth and families involved.  The goal is to prevent disputes from escalating into further violence.

·          Girls Gang Reduction. Funding is available for intervention, mediation and leadership development activities. A portion of this work also includes building the capacity of organizations to provide services to girls and young women. The Trust is matching city dollars to provide learning opportunities for organizations targeting girls and young women.

• Truancy Reduction. Nonprofit staff works with truant middle- and junior-high-school youth and their families to provide support such as academic enrichment, parent involvement activities or jobs. Schools targeted in wards 7 and 8 are: Hart Middle School, Johnson Junior High School, Kelly Miller Middle School and Kramer Middle School.
• Youth Programs In New Communities. The New Communities Initiative will transform poor, crime-ridden neighborhoods into healthy mixed-income communities. To support youth living in new communities, programs providing academic enrichment, arts and recreation, out-of school-time activities, work and life skills development, job placement and college preparation are eligible for funding. 

 

 

Progress Report—Fall 2007

 

The Trust’s first year of grants ends in December 2007. A formal evaluation will be available in early 2008, but preliminary results show youth involved in the first year of the Effective Youth Development Initiative attend school more regularly and develop vocational skills. The incidence of youth violence has also decreased.

 

Evaluation and technical support components include:

 

·        WEBSTARS (Web-based Service Tracking and Reporting System). A computer-based evaluation tool that tracks services to children, youth and parents. Services tracked includes: participants receiving services; the frequency of services; and progress made toward benchmarks and outcomes for participants.

·        Youth Worker Training. Each grantee completes a 30-hour Advancing Youth Development course.

·        Monthly convenings with grantees to share information and best practices.

 

Continuing Challenges

• Fluctuations in government funding hamper nonprofit leaders’ ability to plan and carry out their programs.
• Violence is often triggered by events that happen among students in schools. But sporadic participation from District public school leaders makes it difficult for initiative partners to get an early warning about incidents that start in schools and have the potential for escalating in the streets.