City of Alexandria, Virginia
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MEMORANDUM
DATE: JANUARY 16, 2024
TO: THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL
THROUGH: JAMES F. PARAJON, CITY MANAGER /s/
FROM: KATE GARVEY, DIRECTOR, DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY AND HUMAN SERVICES
DOCKET TITLE:
TITLE
Consideration of Youth Safety and Resilience Recommendations.
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ISSUE: Provide City Council with the Youth Safety and Resilience recommendations.
RECOMMENDATIONS: That City Council accept the Youth Safety and Resilience recommendations.
BACKGROUND: In response to an increase in youth violence that included the loss of a youth in May of 2022, Council drafted a memorandum on June 14, 2022, known as the Youth Safety and Resilience Concept, directing City staff to coordinate across sectors to promote youth safety and resilience. The memo directs staff to engage stakeholders to:
1) Listen to the experiences of young people;
2) Seek to learn the root-cause of youth trauma and violence and act on recommendations as a result of this engagement with the aim to ultimately develop and improve on the system of care that serves to address youth trauma and mental health;
3) Coordinate across sectors to identify challenges, needs, and opportunities;
4) Develop sustainable strategies to align services and existing initiatives;
5) Identify metrics and transparent processes to hold ourselves accountable;
6) Target investments at identified gaps; and
7) Prioritize equity and take a whole of community approach to engage the public and private sector's partnership and participation in supporting our city's youth.
In response to the Youth Safety and Resilience Concept memo, City staff took steps to operationalize the directives outlined in the document. To this end, staff worked with internal and external stakeholder organizations to conduct a total of seven focus groups, engaged 125 youth in the process representing racia...
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