Violence Prevention for Youth in San Francisco

Register for the [Frontline Conference: A Conference on Violence, Gangs & Turfs]

Introduction: CBOs in the City
CJCJ's Response: Unite the CBOs and Work Together

Introduction: CBOs in the City

The recent increase in San Francisco violence and the decreased funding streams to preventative programs has placed unprecedented demands on local nonprofit community-based organizations (CBOs) in the areas of violence prevention. The growing demand for services has highlighted a need for capacity building within San Francisco's youth-serving nonprofit community.

In recent years, San Francisco's CBOs have been called upon to provide a broad range of services in the areas of violence prevention. This growing emphasis on CBO services results from the recognition that CBOs are uniquely positioned to offer a rich array of culturally relevant services to the city's increasingly diverse youth population. CBOs, in return, offer access and communication to neighborhoods and communities where the youth populations live and will thrive when violence is reduced.

San Francisco's CBO community is among the nation's most vibrant and innovative. Programs pioneered by San Francisco nonprofit CBOs have become national models. Thus, it is imperative that the creative and social resources of San Francisco's CBOs are recognized and consulted for ongoing program development toward violence prevention.

Although San Francisco CBOs have proven innovative and successful in the area of violence reduction, the city's approach to utilizing CBO services is often fragmented and ad hoc. Some city departments dispense contracts to individual agencies without creating a plan to assimilate the diverse and broad services of each agency into a coordinated continuum. The increasing reliance on CBOs in the area of violence prevention has exacerbated these problems and revealed the following:

• Outreach and delivery of services to youth and their families are often poorly coordinated with other CBOs and city departments
• Services to youth are dispersed and unevenly distributed across the city's districts
• There is no effective or integrated system of communications between CBOs and/or city departments
• There is no effective method of identifying youth involved in various city programs and making appropriate referrals to CBOs or programs
• Many CBOs are not prepared to properly evaluate their effectiveness and hold themselves accountable

CJCJ's Response: Unite the CBOs and Work Together

The need for CBO services has never been greater. With the growing concern over street violence in San Francisco, CBOs are now performing a primary role in implementing street level strategies to stem the violence and deliver high quality and effective services to a broad cross section of San Francisco's children, youth and their families. To improve their capacity to meet this unprecedented demand, capacity development is essential.

For years, CJCJ has been a member of the Juvenile Justice Providers Association. In 2006, CJCJ increased its capacity to publicize information about the efforts of local juvenile justice providers and collaborate in advocacy efforts. CJCJ is seeking funding from private and government agencies to further develop and staff a program focused on providing essential capacity building and advocacy training for local CBOs. Under the supervision of CJCJ's policy director, the program will work to inform, educate and organize CBOs who work with juvenile populations to confront the similar issues cooperatively to improve San Francisco's public safety.

To date, the efforts of CJCJ staff, volunteers and consultants have worked with local CBOs to press for appropriate funding to the organizations who serve youth in their communities and on the street.