The Arrowleaf STOP School Violence Program

The purpose of this project is to prevent and reduce school violence through careful, strategic community interventions and training for students, school personnel, and community members including law enforcement and caregivers. Arrowleaf aims to create a socially, culturally, and emotionally responsible and sensitive region where students do not need to fear the notion of arriving at school in the morning due to acts of bullying, aggression, or manipulation. The project will provide in-school services to four schools within Alexander, Pulaski, and Johnson County, Illinois. Students within the proposed service area report experiencing higher rates of bullying, harassment, negative school climates, and feeling unsafe in comparison to not only neighboring communities but across the state and federally. 

The primary activities of this project include: developing and coordinating with a Youth Advisory Council and School Behavioral Threat Assessment team to improve the school climate through continued review, revision, and deployment of updated School Safety Plans for each participating school on an annual basis; train students, school personnel, law enforcement, and caregivers on recognizing, preventing, and responding to school violence through use of evidence-based curriculum and programming; increasing access to violence prevention and early intervention services through screening, referrals, and immediate response by social service staff to student violence incidents; and increasing community awareness of violence prevention resources targeting disrupting the school-to-prison pipeline and student violence within the school and greater community. It is expected that through the aforementioned preventive measures and interventions, students will report increased confidence in managing conflict through positive communication, reduced rates of bullying and harassment, and increased feelings of safety and connection to the school climate. Additionally, school personnel, law enforcement, caregivers, and community members are expected to report an increased understanding to responding to student violence and connecting youth and families to violence prevention and early intervention resources while indicating a noticeable decrease in violent incidents within the school and greater community.

This project will build on foundational work already set in place by Arrowleaf through their long-standing relationships with partnering organizations and experience with youth advisory councils, in-school prevention programs, community education, and community collaboration. After the conclusion of the grant period, it is expected that the activities set in place by this proposal will continue to affect the targeted areas by increasing and enhancing the collaborative partnerships with the schools and communities.