Youth Violence Prevention Rally, Press Conference and Lobby Day

The Safe Teens/Safe Communities Coalition, that has worked on passage of the funding for the DPH Youth Violence Prevention Program, the Shannon Anti-Gang Violence Grant Program, the YouthWorks Jobs for Teens Program, will be holding a statewide rally/press conference/rally day on Monday March 31 at 1:30 PM at Nurses Hall on the Second Floor of the State House to focus on getting increases in funding for these key programs.

We are organizing this rally/press conference/lobby day jointly with allies from the Metropolitan Mayors Coalition, Massachusetts Major Police Chiefs Association, and Representative Stephen Canessa, and other organizations.

This event is for several purposes:

**1. We have a real chance to get a significant increase in youth violence prevention program because of the need, because of the work we are doing to bring this issue to our legislators. That Governor Patrick put such increases in his state budget proposal is a good start, but whether these are actually passed depends on the decisions of the Legislature.

2. To invite legislators to stand with us in support of these budget line items during this crucial time that the House and Senate are making budget decisions on the increases we are working for in the programs.
3. To be able to, after the rally/press conference, go to the offices of our legislators to speak to them and their budget aides about these priorities.
4. To get media coverage--many daily papers from around the state have reporters based at the State House who really want to hear from local residents involved in statewide budget issues.
5. To elevate these funding issues to legisltors.
6. To kick off national youth violence prevention week ....

**We hope you can organize people to attend this event, inform and ask allies you have to come to from amidst community groups, social service agencies, mayors, police chiefs, district attorneys.

**We will also include at this event the other related youth violence prevention programs in the list of budget campaigns we are asking support for including: the After School/Out-of-School Time (ASOST) program, School to Career Connecting Activities, the Mentoring Program, and legislation for teen mental health drop-in centers.

For more information, contact the Safe Teens/Safe Communities Coalition or Massachusetts Communities Action Network at (617) 822-1499

Youth Violence Prevention Programs Needing Support from State Legislators for State Budget Increases

1. Budget Line Item 4590-1506, DPH Youth Violence Prevention/Positive Youth Development grants--we support a $5 million increase from $2 million to $7 million. This funding support 21 community coalitions' program across the state wtih 6-7 month funding grants. Another 20 coalitions that applied were ruled "approved for funding, but not funded due to insufficient funding". Increased funding will enable the funded programs to run year round and the quality programs that were unable to be funded, to be funded. An estimated 3,892 youth are being served under these programs now.

2. Budget Line Item 8100-0111, EOPS Shannon Anti-Gang Violence grants for law enforcement, intervention, prevention programs in 34 com-munities. This has led to important partnerships between law enforcement and community groups that has helped reduce gang violence and provided opportunities for youth prevention and intervention programs.-- we support a $4 million increase from $11 million up to $15 million.

3. Jobs and Jobs Training for Youth

a. Budget Line Item 7002-1074, LWD YouthWorks summer jobs and during school year jobs for public sector jobs for teens--we support a $2.5 million increase from $6.7 million to $9.2 million.
b. Budget Line Item 7027-0019 Connecting Activities--In FY07, helped by $3 million from the 2006 Economic Stimulus Bill, this program generated thousands of private sector jobs. However, then funding fell back to the $4.1 million previous funding level so these jobs are being lost. We support increasing this so we don’t lose these private sector jobs that can be gotten for teens.
c. Support for a Youth Transitional Employment Program at $3.6 million to be run under EOPS

4. Budget Line Item 7061-9611 for After School/Out-of-School Time (ASOST) grant program that funds after school programs in schools and community centers. It is currently funded at $2 million and we hope it can be increased to $14 million as DOE had recommended. In FY07, DOE got 350 letters of intent totally over $14 million in requests for a grant.

5. Budget Line Item 7061-9634 The Massachusetts Mentoring Initiative FY09 Request: Level Funding at $712,000 Part of this line item currently provides $487,000 to high-quality mentoring programs statewide to match at-risk youth with a caring adult mentor. Today, 566 mentoring matches are supported with these funds. More than 4,500 children are on waiting lists for adult mentors around the state. Since funding is designated for the creation of new mentoring matches, level funding would reduce waiting lists and allow more youth to realize their full potential.

6. House Bill 1881, Pending Legislation: Act Providing for Teen Mental Health Drop-In Centers, as a pilot program of mental health drop-in centers, to be located in community and youth centers across the state. Here, teens will be able to access free, confidential counseling from both adult therapists and peer counselors, and have a safe space to escape the stress of daily life. The location of the centers in a non-medical setting will help alleviate the stigma associated with seeking help, and the easy access to services will ensure that more teens get help earlier, preventing the escalation of problems. Funding for this new bill (currently requested at $500,000) will provide 5 communities to offer such services.