Students Avoiding Violence via Empowerment (SAVE) project

The Help Coalition (THC) and their other community partners will offer the Students Avoiding Violence via Empowerment (SAVE) Project. The project will serve 1,200 Jefferson County, Alabama, public school students and teachers (90) by providing them with the evidence-based instruction in violence prevention and related activities that will help them avoid or identify dangerous and high-risk behaviors that have the potential to seriously impair their futures. This project will provide evidence-based violence prevention training for at least 1200 middle and high school students and provide evidence-based violence prevention via mental health awareness training for 90 teachers over the life of the program. It will recruit, train, or maintain at least four students as peer educators each project year to work within the schools and the community to reinforce and further disseminate the message of violence prevention as assessed by a review of peer educator training records. Finally, all trained teachers and other adults in mental health awareness work through the schools will make referrals to mental health providers, as assessed via a quarterly review of the files of all staff and partners providing Youth Mental Health First Aid Training.