U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will give welcoming remarks at the National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention on Tuesday, May 12, in Arlington, Va. The theme of this year’s summit is “From Promise to Practice.” Duncan will discuss the Department’s commitment to creating safe and more positive school climates for students. U.S. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch also will give remarks.
To continue its efforts to keep students safe and improve their learning environments, in 2014, the U.S. Department of Education awarded more than $35.8 million in School Climate Transformation grants to 71 local education agencies in 23 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands to develop, enhance, or expand systems of support for implementing evidence-based, multi-tiered behavioral frameworks for improving behavioral outcomes and learning conditions for students. The Department also awarded more than $7.3 million in School Climate Transformation grants to 12 state education agencies to develop, enhance, or expand statewide systems of support for, and technical assistance to, school districts and schools implementing an evidence-based, multi-tiered behavioral framework for improving behavioral outcomes and learning conditions for all students. Additionally, the Department awarded more than $14.1 million in Project Prevent grants to 22 school districts in 14 states to expand their capacity to more effectively assist schools in communities with pervasive violence to better meet the needs of students directly or indirectly exposed to violence. This fiscal year, the Department will provide $36 million in School Climate Transformation grant continuation awards to local education agencies and $14.6 million in Project Prevent grant continuation awards.
The National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention is a network of communities and federal agencies that work to prevent and reduce youth violence. Forum cities include Boston, Camden, Chicago, Detroit, Memphis, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Salinas, San Jose, Long Beach, Cleveland, Louisville, Seattle, and Baltimore. People from diverse professions and backgrounds come together to learn from each other about the crisis of youth and gang violence in the United States and to build comprehensive solutions on the local and national levels. Launched in 2010 at the direction of President Obama, the Forum has three goals: to address youth and gang violence as a national issue, to enhance the capacity of communities across the country to effectively address and prevent youth and gang violence, and to sustain progress and change. The Department has supported the National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention since its inception with funding and staff support, and in 2013 and 2014 provided $2 million to 10 Forum cities for projects to implement or expand positive behavioral intervention and supports in their schools. The Department will continue this work with new grants in FY 2015.
NOTE: All media must present government-issued photo IDs (such as a driver’s license as well as valid media credentials). Due to space limitations, entrance is not guaranteed. Registration for participants starts at 7:30 a.m., and doors open for participants at 8 a.m. Media access starts at 7 a.m. with security sweeps for preset starting at 7:15 a.m. Final media access time is 8 a.m. Media RSVP and inquiries regarding logistics should be directed to Starr Stepp at [email protected] or Kevin Lewis at [email protected].