Palm Beach County''s Gang Prevention Coordination Strategy

The applicant proposes three principle program components: 1) Prevent youth from becoming delinquent through primary prevention and early intervention strategies; 2) Services for youth identified at risk, and for youth and their families involved in the juvenile justice system; and 3) Improve the juvenile justice system response to delinquent offenders through a system of graduated sanctions and a continuum of treatment alternatives that include immediate intervention, intermediate sanctions, community-based corrections, and aftercare services. The program's Coordinator will establish an independent coordinating process to assess and identify the gaps in our systems and determine how to optimally use our resources so that services could be delivered efficiently and seamlessly through our collaborative network of community and social service providers and to ensure that all the available resources in the community are optimized to prevent youth from joining gangs. The Coordinator will close the gaps among multiple systems that are providing services to youth and develop a more seamless system for long-term systemic change. CA/NCF