Westchester County STOP School Violence Project

Westchester Coalition for Drug and Alcohol Free Youth (WCDAFY), a program within the Westchester County Office of Drug Abuse Prevention and STOP-DWI, proposes to implement Project Schools Transforming Real Interventions to Violence (STRIV). Project STRIV will develop and enhance multidisciplinary behavioral threat assessment and intervention teams by providing additional comprehensive school threat assessment and digital threat assessment trainings that will help ensure a safe and secure place in which students can thrive. Project STRIV will employ a two-pronged, trauma-informed strategies approach in four Westchester County New York school districts and their communities. The areas of focus include digital threat assessment and trainings for school personnel, parents, and students on preventing school violence/bullying. Trainings will build upon previous school safety trainings and initiatives to ensure the growth of a school community climate and culture where students feel safe, accepted, and respected regardless of their gender, race culture, or sexual orientation. School personnel will be trained on the threat assessment model. The coalition will collaborate with the Putnam Northern Westchester Board of Cooperative Educational Services (subrecipient) to implement this area of focus. The second area of focus includes implementing the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program and the Students as First Responders (SAFR) peer-led education program.