Safe Horizon: Supporting Young Men of Color as Survivors of Violence

The Office for Victims of Crime’s (OVC) Vision 21: Transforming Victim Services Final Report (Vision 21) envisions that “all crime victims in the 21st century can readily access a seamless continuum of evidence-based services and support that will allow them to begin physical, emotional, and financial recovery.” However, Vision 21 recognizes there are serious challenges to achieving this goal. Improving the field’s understanding of violence and trauma and their effects on survivors are among these challenges. To this end, OVC collaborated with the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to release the FY 15 Supporting Male Survivors of Violence solicitation. The solicitation sought to enhance the services available to male survivors of violence, particularly boys and men of color, and their families, by funding demonstration projects that put in place evidence-based models and practices to provide trauma-informed, comprehensive services and supporting policies for these survivors and their families. OVC and OJJDP used this solicitation to competitively select 12 demonstration sites from across the country to meet this need.

Safe Horizon will use this award to enhance and improve services for African-American and Latino young men, ages 6-26, in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Manhattan. During the three year project period, Safe Horizon will create a multidisciplinary stakeholder learning collaborative (SLC) made up of relevant community stakeholders, such as the New York City Police Department and local District Attorney's Offices. The objectives of the SLC are to increase outreach to survivors, incorporate a more culturally inclusive narrative of survivor victimization into Safe Horizon practice, and expand partner agency capacity to screen for trauma and make recommendations for victim service interventions. The SLC will conduct cross-training of Safe Horizon and other partner agency staff and will produce a toolkit for all Safe Horizon direct service staff to better equip them to work with this survivor group. Through the implementation of improved victim services that specifically target and engage these survivors, Safe Horizon expects to increase the number of survivors that seek and receive their services and share lessons learned in order to further expand such services.

ca/ncf

The Office for Victims of Crimes (OVC) Vision 21: Transforming Victim Services Final Report (Vision 21) envisions that all crime victims in the 21st century can readily access a seamless continuum of evidence-based services and support that will allow them to begin physical, emotional, and financial recovery. However, Vision 21 recognizes there are serious challenges to achieving this goal. Improving the fields understanding of violence and trauma and their effects on survivors are among these challenges. To this end, OVC collaborated with the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to release the FY 15 Supporting Male Survivors of Violence solicitation. The solicitation sought to enhance the services available to male survivors of violence, particularly boys and men of color, and their families, by funding demonstration projects that put in place evidence-based models and practices to provide trauma-informed, comprehensive services and supporting policies for these survivors and their families. OVC and OJJDP used this solicitation to competitively select 12 demonstration sites from across the country to meet this need. Safe Horizon will use this award to enhance and improve services for African-American and Latino young men, ages 6-26, in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Manhattan. During the three year project period, Safe Horizon will create a multidisciplinary stakeholder learning collaborative (SLC) made up of relevant community stakeholders, such as the New York City Police Department and local District Attorney's Offices. The objectives of the SLC are to increase outreach to survivors, incorporate a more culturally inclusive narrative of survivor victimization into Safe Horizon practice, and expand partner agency capacity to screen for trauma and make recommendations for victim service interventions. The SLC will conduct cross-training of Safe Horizon and other partner agency staff and will produce a toolkit for all Safe Horizon direct service staff to better equip them to work with this survivor group. Through the implementation of improved victim services that specifically target and engage these survivors, Safe Horizon expects to increase the number of survivors that seek and receive their services and share lessons learned in order to further expand such services. ca/ncf