Santa Cruz County Criminal Justice Council's Project Thrive

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.

The Santa Cruz County Department of Probation will use this award to collaborate with its Youth Violence Prevention Task Force to implement Project Thrive, an initiative aimed at addressing gaps in how they identify, support and serve young men of color that have been harmed by violence. Project Thrive will establish a coordinated countywide trauma-informed system to increase the well-being and quality of life for young Latino and African-American males, ages 16-24, and their families, that reside in the Watsonville, Santa Cruz and Live Oak communities. The project will build community awareness of the impact of trauma and violence, enhance the capacity of county systems to implement evidence-based practices to meet survivor needs, and build local capacity to identify and reach this survivor group through outreach workers, law enforcement based mental health liaisons, and system navigators.

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. The Santa Cruz County Department of Probation will use this award to collaborate with its Youth Violence Prevention Task Force to implement Project Thrive, an initiative aimed at addressing gaps in how they identify, support and serve young men of color that have been harmed by violence. Project Thrive will establish a coordinated countywide trauma-informed system to increase the well-being and quality of life for young Latino and African-American males, ages 16-24, and their families, that reside in the Watsonville, Santa Cruz and Live Oak communities. The project will build community awareness of the impact of trauma and violence, enhance the capacity of county systems to implement evidence-based practices to meet survivor needs, and build local capacity to identify and reach this survivor group through outreach workers, law enforcement based mental health liaisons, and system navigators. ca/ncf