Santa Maria Community Services received funds from the City of Cincinnati to support the development of the 2016-2017 Lower Price Hill Collaborative for Violence Prevention. The $100,000 grant will assist Santa Maria and its partners in the continued effort to empower the Lower Price Hill community to implement programs and build capacities to sustain positive violence prevention practices.
Through funding from Human Services dollars, The City of Cincinnati will sponsor the activities of the collaborative including recurring youth groups, family advocacy sessions, community service projects, employment training, literacy assistance, various recreational youth activities, and more. The collaborative will seek to:
- Develop and maintain a strong community collaborative for violence prevention
- Connect youth with caring adults and their community
- Teach youth skills to peacefully resolve conflict and avoid involvement in negative behaviors
- Develop children and youths’ social and emotional skills necessary for success in life
- Improve youths’ relationship with community police
- Decrease at-risk youths’ involvement in violent behavior
- Decrease risk factors for parents of at-risk youth
Not only will the collaborative support violence prevention and positive youth behaviors, but through collaboration of multiple Santa Maria programs and partner organizations, the initiative will also provide services for adults, including therapy, housing, and employment services. In order to successfully accomplish these goals, the grant will help to expand the staff necessary to support the collaborative, specifically within Santa Maria’s Youth Development Program.
The collaborative follows the establishment of the new Lower Price Hill Joe Williams Family Center, where Santa Maria’s Youth Development Program now resides. The Family Center houses additional services through various Santa Maria programs and partner organizations, and will continue to grow these services throughout the development of the violence prevention collaborative.
“This collaborative is going to allow us to approach violence prevention from a lot of different angles,” says Jim Holmstrom, Director of Santa Maria Community Services’ Youth Development Program. “We are going to able to increase the number of protective factors in the community, and youth are going to have positive mentors and healthy activities to keep them off the street. We will also be able to help build youths’ socio-emotional skills, while reducing the number of risk factors in families of youth by working with them and providing them with resources.”
The Lower Price Hill Collaborative for Violence Prevention includes a collaboration with Santa Maria’s Youth Development Program, Early Childhood Program, Housing Program, Wellness Program, and Workforce Development Program. Partners include: Cincinnati Police Department; Cincinnati Recreation Commission; Community Matters; Education Matters; Lower Price Hill Community Council; Oyler School; State Avenue Church of Christ; and adult and teen community resident representatives.
