School District of Philadelphia receives 1M grant to reduce youth violence

PHILADELPHIA, October 18, 2022 — The School District of Philadelphia has received a $1 million dollar grant from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to address youth violence. This award will be used to fund implementation of the Youth Violence Reduction Initiative at John Bartram High School.

“We are thrilled to be bringing in more dollars to our District to support intervention efforts for our youth,” said Superintendent Tony B. Watlington, Ed.D. “While we know that our schools are still the safest places for our students, the rising gun violence in the city is traumatizing for everyone. This initiative will enhance our safety efforts by working to target and support youth at risk of gang involvement.”

This Office of School Safety initiative develops and implements the OJJDP Comprehensive Gang Model, an existing evidence-based, data-driven community model for a school setting. Recognizing that one entity alone cannot stop youth violence, this program works to reduce relatively high rates of gang and youth gun violence by engaging with a multidisciplinary team, including: Temple University, CureViolence, the District’s Office of Support Services, community organizations in the southwest, and other criminal justice agencies, including the Philadelphia Police Department, and the juvenile probation department. The Neubauer Foundation provided initial funding for planning of this project.