CCYJ BJA CVI Capacity Building Project

The Center for Children and Youth Justice (CCYJ) has coordinated the implementation of the Comprehensive Gang Model since 2011 in King County, Washington. CCYJ’s Leadership, Intervention, and Change program is a coordinated effort to prevent and reduce community and gun violence among youth and the involvement of young people in groups and gangs.
CCYJ is focusing on King County, Washington, due to the high amount of gun violence in the region, which recently saw several years of increased activity. In 2022, the King County Executive declared gun violence a public health emergency after a 2021 spike in gun violence. In 2021, there were 460 shooting victims, which was 70 percent higher than the previous year. In 2022, the number of shots fired increased by 16 percent, and shooting victims remained higher than previous years. Black men and boys remain the highest number of victims of any race/ethnicity.
CCYJ is poised to support local community-based organizations (CBOs) in reducing community violence by acting as an intermediary organization and providing targeted training and technical assistance for implementing and sustaining Community Violence Intervention (CVI) strategies. For 17 years, CCYJ has led local, regional, and statewide initiatives, bringing together stakeholders from a variety of jurisdictions and disciplines. It has developed protocols and led statewide technical assistance initiatives, task forces, and steering committees, as well as overseen federal grant subrecipients.
Within this proposal, CCYJ will provide TTA to up to five CBOs, who are serving youth ages 12–24 within the CVI ecosystem in King County. CCYJ will seek out grassroots and small organizations with budgets between $60,000 and $500,000 that are planning to initiate or are already operating a CVI strategy. Priority consideration will be given to culturally specific organizations. The selection process will involve assessing the organization’s readiness for change, cultural responsiveness, and ability to integrate training and technical assistance into their organization to sustain efforts in the long term.
CCYJ centers the voices and leadership of those most impacted by violence and the criminal justice system by actively seeking their input on program strategies.