Prevention Comes First
Prevention Comes First includes a variety of efforts, throughout the administration of Governor Timothy M. Kaine, to promote the positive development of Virginia’s youth by addressing the risk and protective factors that lead to youth gang recruitment and activity, substance abuse, delinquency, violence, school drop-out, and related adolescent problem behaviors. It coordinates the prevention activities of law enforcement, educators, state and local prevention professionals, and families throughout the Commonwealth. Initial activities include:
Collaboration
Virginia’s Interagency Anti-Gang Workgroup
The workgroup’s mission is to cultivate strong collaboration; prioritize, coordinate, and leverage prevention resources; encourage and facilitate wider use of proven prevention programs and strategies; provide training and tools to assist state and local prevention professionals, service providers, and the faith community in assessing needs, targeting resources, and planning services for youth and families; disseminating information on gangs to citizens of the Commonwealth.
Initially formed in January 2003 to share information and coordinate efforts among agencies under the Public Safety Secretariat, the Governor has formalized the Workgroup, its mission and composition, through an Executive Order.
Directed by the Secretary of Public Safety, the workgroup is comprised of representatives from the: Commonwealth’s Attorneys’ Services Council; the Departments of Correctional Education; Corrections; Criminal Justice Services; Education; Health; Juvenile Justice; Mental Health, Mental Retardation, and Substance Abuse Services; Social Services; the Virginia State Police; the Governor's Office for Substance Abuse Prevention; the Office of the Attorney General; the Virginia Association of Commonwealth's Attorneys'; the Richmond Behavioral Authority; the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police; the Virginia Sheriffs’ Association; and the Virginia Commonwealth University’s Center for School-Community Collaboration.
Parent Guide to Personal Safety for Youth
Due to the popularity of the KidSafe Virginia parent guides, GOSAP recently revised and combined the parent guides. The purpose of the Parent Guide to Personal Safety for Youth is to educate parents on some of the safety threats our children face and assist parents in communicating with their children about personal safety. The topics covered in this guide include: fire safety, internet safety, driving safety, bullying, gangs, inhalant abuse prevention and underage drinking.
Beginning December 15, 2007, parent guides will be available at fire and rescue stations throughout the Commonwealth or at your local DMV office.
GOSAP extends special thanks to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and the Department of Fire Programs (DFP) for assisting with the distribution of the parent guides, and to the Department of Criminal Justice Services for technical support.
To get copies of the Parent Guide:
- Go to your nearest DMV office,
- Go to a participating fire and/or rescue department, or
- Download a copy.
Opportunities for Youth
The Governor’s Community Service and Civic Engagement Program
The Governor's Office for Substance Abuse Prevention (GOSAP) and the Department of Criminal Justice Services provide competitive mini-grants to localities to implement the Governor’s Community Service and Civic Engagement Program.
The Governor’s Community Service and Civic Engagement Program targets community-based interventions to youth who are at high risk for gang involvement.
Engaging at-risk youth in community service activities that provide opportunities for positive bonding with responsible adults, set clear standards and high expectations for appropriate behavior, teach youth positive skills, and give them the opportunities to participate in and be recognized for meaningful decisions and activities have proven to be successful and are cost effective.
Application packages are available each summer/fall through the GOSAP web site (www. gosap.governor.virginia.gov). Recipients of the community service mini-grants will be announced at the Prevention Comes First Conference in the fall of each year.
Public Awareness and Training
Prevention Comes First Conference
This one-day conference provides prevention professionals and interested citizens with cutting-edge information and highlights gang prevention/bullying model programs that have proven to reduce bullying and gang membership and activity. An estimated 500 participants representing law enforcement, education, prevention, Commonwealth’s Attorneys, and other professionals attend the conference each year.
Gang Awareness Program
The Virginia State Police are training 126 State Police Crime Prevention Specialists in gang awareness and prevention. They design and print gang awareness and prevention materials.
- A public service announcement targets youth to let them know that involvement with gangs will not benefit them. It has been distributed to television stations throughout the Commonwealth.
Safety Matters in Mentoring
The Virginia Mentoring Partnership, in collaboration with the Governor’s Office for Substance Abuse Prevention, has included a youth violence, gang involvement and substance abuse component in all its training opportunities for mentors across Virginia. Youth who have formed a bond with at least one positive adult role model are less likely to participate in gangs and engage in other adolescent problem behaviors.
Gang Prevention Education Workshops
The Department of Education and the Governor's Office for Substance Abuse Prevention, through a Department of Criminal Justice Services grant, is providing workshops at no cost to school personnel, law enforcement, juvenile justice workers, social services personnel, and other interested professionals across Virginia. The training presents research on, and strategies for addressing, risk factors that place youth at-risk for gang activity and other adolescent problem behaviors.
Prevention Through Information Data Collection and Data Use Workshops (PTI-VA)
The Department of Education and Virginia Commonwealth University’s Center for School-Community Collaboration is presenting regional, one-day workshops on the collection and use of data related to incidents of discipline, crime and violence in schools to improve the capacity of Virginia schools to collect and use school crime and safety data for prevention planning.
Tools for Communities
The Community Profile Database
The Governor's Office for Substance Abuse Prevention (GOSAP), with its GOSAP Collaborative, has created a one-stop, web-based, interactive tool that provides easy access to a variety of community-level data and prevention resources. It can assist state and local prevention professionals, service providers, and the faith community in assessing needs, targeting resources, and planning services for youth and families to combat gang activity.
Already recognized with a national “Best of the Web” award for innovation, the database provides:
- community planners with consistent, easily accessible data to help them assess local needs;
- both public and private organizations with uniform, comparable data to use in developing grant applications;
- objective data for use in benchmarking and monitoring progress toward achieving targeted outcomes;
- community risk factors for gang activity (by age group, race/ethnic group, gender, city or county, zip code, where available);
- resources for addressing gang problems:
- evidence-based programs serving Virginia'’s youth and families;
- links to best practices for addressing gang problems;
- links to network with other people involved in gang prevention and early intervention activities; and
- training opportunities to instruct individuals how to use the database.
Each activity is evaluated to monitor outcomes and improve effectiveness.