Youth Violence Prevention

The Seattle Human Services Department is working with several other City of Seattle departments on the Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative (SYVPI), a community-based, multi-agency strategy to address youth violence in Seattle. The Initiative focuses on youth ages 12 – 17, who are at the highest risk of perpetuating or being victimized by violence. SYVPI services and efforts are coordinated through three neighborhood networks in central, southeast and southwest Seattle where indicators of future violent behaviors, such as discipline rates in schools, are the highest. Specifically, the Initiative:

• Assists youth with repeat offenses to re-enter society from state or county detention programs;
• Provides alternatives for youth who are detained or arrested for crimes, but released because they don’t meet the admission criteria for county detention;
• Helps middle-school truants and students at risk of suspension stay in school and succeed; and
• Prevents victims of violence and associates from continuing the cycle of violence through retaliation.

The goals of the Initiative are to achieve a 50% reduction in certain court referrals of juveniles and a 50% reduction in suspensions and expulsions from selected middle schools due to violence related incidents.

For more information on the Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative, please go to http://safeyouthseattle.org.

Human Services Department Programs

The Human Services Department manages SYVPI-funded contracts with community-based providers for case management, mentoring, Aggression Replacement Training (ART) and employment services.

SYVPI Case Management

• Atlantic Street Center
• Consejo Counseling and Referral Service
• Powerful Voices
• SafeFutures Youth Center
• Sea Mar Community Health Centers
• Southwest Youth and Family Services

SYVPI Mentoring

• 4-C Coalition
• Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound

SYVPI Aggression Replacement Training

• Southwest Youth and Family Services

SYVPI Youth Employment

• King County Superior Court – Juvenile Services
• MetroCenter YMCA
• Powerful Voices
• Seattle Youth Employment Program
• Southwest Youth and Family Services
• Youth Venture

More Information

For more information about the SYVPI-funded agencies and other Seattle Human Services Department-funded youth programs, please call 206-386-1017 or e-mail youthservices@seattle.gov.

Seattle Human Services Department
Street address: 700 5th Avenue, Suite 5800, Seattle, WA 98104
Mailing address: PO Box 34215, Seattle, WA 98124-4215

Phone: 206-386-1001
Fax: 206-233-5119
TTY/TTD: 206-233-2778

Accommodations for people with disabilities provided upon request.