Safe & Sound Safe Places
LINK: The importance of after-school programs
Safe & Sound is a proud sponsor of numerous Safe Places in Milwaukee; great youth-serving organizations that provide youth development programming while organizing youth-led crime reduction strategies in your neighborhood. To find out how to get involved in the positive activities happening at Safe Places contact: Norma Balentine, Safe Places Program Manager.
YouTube VIDEO: Provides a glimpse of the Neu-Life Safe Place youth leadership group Crime Strategy Initiative in action.Overall Program Goals
In order to minimize the prevalence of juvenile crime and the destruction of our youth and community, the goals of Safe & Sound Safe Places are:
- To reduce violent juvenile crime by providing meaningful programs that will help youth avoid involvement in gang, crime, violent or delinquent activities.
- To get youth, particularly teens, thinking critically about crime issues and community concerns and how they can contribute towards making a difference.
- To build opportunities for positive youth development and help youth attain the developmental assets needed to grow up to be competent, caring and healthy adults.
At the heart of Safe & Sound’s crime reduction strategy is the collaboration that has built up between Safe Places, Community Partners and law enforcement. This three-part strategy enables
Safe & Sound to maintain the relationships needed to maximize resources that promote healthy youth development, and prevent crime and violence in 21 high-crime neighborhoods.
All programs under the Safe & Sound initiative serve a percentage of high-risk youth. Targeted youth include those who:
- use alcohol, drugs, and tobacco
- receive poor grades and skip or drop out of school
- engage in risky sexual activity
- involved in criminal, gang or drug dealing activity
- get arrested, and carry and use weapons
Safe & Sound is committed to facilitating relationships to further our impact on the specified target population. Furthermore, Safe & Sound actively provides trainings and opportunities for Safe Place staff and youth to further develop their knowledge, skills and leadership abilities to involve the targeted population in a safe and meaningful interaction at Safe Place centers and other community based facilities.
To receive funding through Safe & Sound, a proposal must fit into one or more of the primary prevention education categories:
- prevention/early intervention programs
- alcohol, drugs, and tobacco prevention/intervention
- truancy and disruptive behavior prevention/intervention
- conflict resolution and violence prevention/intervention
- prevention/intervention for criminal, gang or drug involvement
- prevention/intervention for negative police contacts, arrests, and carry or use of weapons
Safe & Sound, Inc. offers two primary program models – S.A.F.E. Programs and Youth Together Drop-In Centers. Each model has specific requirements for program content and structure. Successful applicants will understand these differences and ensure that their proposed programs meet the requirements of the selected model. Prospective grantees may propose to operate more than one program model, but a separate and complete proposal must be submitted for each.
S.A.F.E. Programs
Youth leaders from United Community Center meet with law enforcement and Community Partners.
S.A.F.E. programs (sequential, active, focused and explicit) help youth achieve personal and social skills through interactive forms of learning. S.A.F.E. grants up to $40,000 are awarded to programs that intervene in the lives of youth who are considered to be at a higher risk for youth crime, substance abuse and risk-taking behaviors. The programs include structured activities intended to modify the behavior and attitudes of young people who exhibit more challenges. S.A.F.E. programs will also help youth take an active role in developing solutions to crime and neighborhood safety through the development of a Crime Strategy Initiative (CSI).
S.A.F.E. programs use activities to meet the needs of a targeted population of youths who have more than one of the following risk factors:
- Antisocial behavior;
- School truancy;
- Failure in school;
- Substance abuse problems;
- Gang membership or wannabees
- Negative peer association; and
- Are clearly demonstrating risky behaviors that have come to the attention of parents, schools or law enforcement and will lead to imminent or increased involvement in the juvenile justice system
Crime Strategy Initiative (CSI)
The CSI is a youth-led response to neighborhood crime using community service, service-learning and civic engagement activities. The CSI is intended to educate youth on various topics in the field of crime prevention, promote communication skills and leadership qualities in youth, and encourage youth to take proactive action against crime and violence. The goal of the CSI is to get youth, particularly teens, thinking critically about crime issues and community concerns and how they can contribute towards making a difference. The Crime Strategy Initiative is a structured program activity organized by those organizations implementing a S.A.F.E. program.
Youth Together Drop-In Centers
Youth Together Drop-In Centers (YTDC) provide neighborhood-level out-of-school time programs and services for youth between the ages of 10 and 19 that address youth development and include social enrichment activities. These centers receive awards up to $20,000 from Safe & Sound to support their activities. YTDCs offer after-school activities that give teens an opportunity to explore new interests, meet new friends, and have fun, while educating them regarding the consequences of crime, and how it affects their lives. Activities take place in a safe, structured environment under the supervision of caring adults. YTDCs build opportunities for positive youth development and help youth attain the developmental assets needed to grow up to be competent, caring and healthy adults.
After school programs reduce the potential for violence. The Census Department estimates that almost 7 million children care for themselves on a regular basis, with 48% of 14 year olds caring for themselves after school. Reliable data are not available for high school students, but the numbers are certainly much higher. Unfortunately, during after-school hours, youth are more likely to become victims of violent crime than at other times. For teens ages 12 to 17, this risk peaks at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. Moreover, violence by teens also peaks in the hours immediately after school.
After school programs keep children and teens safe and give them the opportunity to build on what they have learned during the regular school day, explore new interests, and to develop relationships with caring adults.
Evaluations have shown that quality after school programs can:
- Decrease juvenile crime
- Decrease the likelihood that youth will be victims of violent crime
- Decrease youth participation in risky behaviors, such as drug, alcohol, and tobacco use
- Lead youth to develop new skills, interests, and civic involvement
- Improve youth’s grades and academic achievement
- Encourage youth to reach higher in planning their futures
- Increase youth’s self-confidence and social skill
Source: SafeYouth.org
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