Audioconference to Explore Using Street Outreach Workers to Reach At-Risk Youth

This month, NLC’s Institute for Youth, Education, and Families (YEF Institute) will host a free, hour-long audioconference to examine how cities are using street outreach workers to stem violence, diffuse conflict, and connect high-risk youth to programs and services. The call, titled “Ceasefire: An In-Depth Look at Using Street Outreach Workers to Stop the Epidemic of Youth Violence,” will take place Thursday July 23 at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time.

This model, derived from Boston’s successful Streetworkers program launched in the 1990s, uses street outreach workers — often former offenders themselves — to mediate conflicts and connect gang members and at-risk youth to positive options and alternatives.

Outreach workers often have extensive knowledge about the neighborhoods and circumstances in which these young people live, and are able to build trust, establish relationships, and serve as liaisons between at-risk youth and law enforcement.

Reaching High-Risk Youth, Changing Social Norms

Chicago’s CeaseFire Campaign is one example of a highly effective program that utilizes street outreach workers to curb youth violence. Based on a public health model, this campaign approaches violence as an epidemic that can be “transmitted” from person to person. In order to break the cycle of violence, CeaseFire relies on trained outreach workers, along with faith and community leaders, to intervene in conflicts, promote alternatives to violence, and change behavioral norms and community standards around violence.

CeaseFire staff members work to: identify and diffuse potential conflicts; provide counseling, home visits, and court advocacy services to youth who are in need; redirect high-risk youth toward job training, employment, and educational programs; and engage the entire community in promoting and reinforcing messages of nonviolence. The six initial CeaseFire Zones saw an average 42 percent decline in shootings during the first year of implementation, and the program is now operating in 16 neighborhoods around the city.  

In Providence, R.I., the Nonviolence Streetworkers program is a partnership between the city’s police department and the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence. Trained street outreach workers help to reconnect at-risk youth with jobs, school and services. Several other cities, including New Haven, Conn., Stockton, Calif., Durham, N.C., and Seattle have similar street outreach programs in place.

How to Register

Listeners on this call will learn about how city officials and police departments can effectively collaborate with faith leaders and community outreach workers to prevent youth from becoming victims or perpetrators of violence.

While the call is free, it is available only to a limited number of participants. Advance registration is required by close of business on Tuesday, July 21. A separate registration is needed for each phone line that will be used to listen to the call.

To register, visit www.nlc.org/iyef. No phone registrations can be accepted. One day prior to the event, each registrant will receive an e-mail or fax message providing a toll-free, dial-in number to use in joining the audioconference.

Details: To ask questions about the audioconference, leave a detailed message on the YEF Institute information line at (202) 626-3014.