District Unveils Program Targeting At-Risk Youth

 By Staff

Jan. 27, 2009, 1 a.m. - District Mayor Adrian M. Fenty announced that the D.C. Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation will award grants to three organizations, the Latin American Youth Center, ROPE, Inc. and Peaceoholics, Inc. to provide outreach services to youth in the District through the At-Risk Youth Assistance Program. 

The program targets at-risk youth who live in neighborhoods where criminal activity is prevalent.   

CYITC is a public-private partnership chartered by the District to help a wide variety of organizations improve the quality, quantity and accessibility of services and opportunities for the city’s youth.  Since its 1999 inception, the CYITC has provided grants, technical assistance, training, capacity building, and policy support at the local level.  

“It is important that the District partners with community organizations to ensure our youth have the best possible resources for making positive life choices,” said Fenty. “The Latin American Youth Center, ROPE, and Peaceoholics have a long history of providing substantive services to D.C. youth who all too often find themselves at risk of becoming negative statistics.”  

“The At-Risk Youth Assistance Program will be a critical tool for the city,” said CYITC President and CEO Millicent Williams. “The program essentially makes it possible for the District to exert positive influences into the lives of at-risk youngsters before they are enticed by negatives influences in the community.”  

Targeting youth between the ages of 14 and 24 is the one of the ways CYITC will seek to ensure the city’s young people are given the necessary tools to generate positive life outcomes.  

Grants awarded will give each organization the capacity to connect with more young people and provide the following services:

• conflict mediation
• crisis intervention
• counseling
• mentoring
• health care and education resources and programs
• job placement

In addition, the organizations will utilize their established credibility to continue and further their work in designated Focus Improvement Areas (FIA) in the District.  Both will hire a minimum of 10 intervention workers to provide on-going outreach to at-risk youth in targeted neighborhoods.  Each intervention worker will provide individual assistance to a minimum of 20 at-risk youth.