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"Safe Schools/Healthy Students"
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| Partners: | School District of Pittsburgh Allegheny County Department of Human Services The City of Pittsburgh Police Bureau | |
The large urban School District of Pittsburgh enrolls nearly 40,000 students in 56 elementary schools, 18 middle schools, 11 high schools, two alternative schools, five special schools, and one adult education center. The student population is 56.4% African American, 41.9% non-Hispanic white, 1.2% Asian, 0.4% Hispanic, and 0.1% American Indian. Sixty-four percent of students receive free or reduced cost lunch, and 32% of families receive public assistance. Other problems faced by students include drug activity, crime, and presence of gangs, deteriorating housing, and lack of developmental supports, such as proper nourishment.
The School District of Pittsburgh has established a collaborative relationship with numerous social service agencies and will be actively involving them in this initiative. A sampling of these agencies include Allegheny County Children and Youth Services; the Center for Victims of Violent Crimes; the Urban League of Pittsburgh; the National Council of Urban Peace and Justice; Urban Youth Action, the Allegheny County Department of Human Services, Office of Juvenile Court Administrators; and the Department of Public Safety-Bureau of Police.
Activities funded by this proposal will aid Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) in accurately identifying children at risk of violence and negative mental health outcomes and in connecting these children with appropriate resources. Nine of the 93 PPS will receive intensive support services and the remaining will receive other components of skill-based training on tools for screening for mental health, violence prevention/intervention and alcohol/other drug use/abuse. The early childhood program will provide training to parents and develop a parent support network. It also will provide additional support to supplement home and preschool experiences for children with readiness deficiencies. Alcohol and other drugs and violence prevention activities will include educating parents by conducting regionally sponsored workshops and seminars at schools and in communities. These workshops will explain early warning signs and how to seek help for violent behavior and alcohol and other drug use. School and community mental health services will include training school staff on how to conduct and/or access screening and assessment services, as well as increasing the availability of behavior health professionals. Additional services will include hiring and training three Parent Support Specialists who will be housed in the PPS's three regions. Training school staff will address holding students accountable for behavior, strategies for effective intervention and discipline and safely assessing potentially violent situations. School staff will also receive a new listing of mental health/alcohol/drug and violence services. The schools will review, complete and conduct semi-annual reviews of their new Safe School Plans.
The program evaluation will include formative and process evaluations, program monitoring, and an outcome evaluation. The evaluation will be conducted by the Center for Violence and Injury Control, Allegheny-Singer Research Institute.
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[Newport, Rhode Island]