WAKEFIELD — The Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth (MPY) is pleased to announce that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will provide Boston Children’s Hospital and Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth with a $634,307 grant to create threat assessment and management teams in four Massachusetts school districts.
The goal for the threat assessment teams is to better identify and help youth at risk for radicalization to targeted violence and terrorism in Bedford, Norton, and Hudson Public Schools, in addition to Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical High School in Danvers. This work will be funded by the Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention (TVTP) Grant Program for Fiscal Year 2022.
Boston Children’s Hospital and MPY will deliver customized awareness trainings that focus on school settings for staff and students based on existing DHS Community Awareness Briefing Curriculum.
Following the trainings, Boston Children’s Hospital and MPY will help the districts create or modify their existing threat assessment model to one that focuses on identifying students at risk and matching them with appropriate mental health support and services before they become violent. This process will involve the creation of a referral protocol and a threat assessment team. Secondary students and teachers in the districts will provide feedback on the referral process to ensure it is safe and secure both for those who are making referrals and for those who are being referred.
Threat assessment teams will receive additional training and certification in a nationally recognized threat assessment model.
This project builds on previous work from the Children’s Hospital Trauma and Community Resilience Center such as the creation of Inter-ethnic Youth Advisory Boards, and the Massachusetts Area Prevention Program at Boston Children’s Hospital.
“We are so excited by the opportunity that these grant funds will provide to continue building and enhancing threat assessment teams at schools across the Commonwealth, which has already been a major focus of MPY,” said Director Margie Daniels. “Working in collaboration with Boston Children’s Hospital’s Trauma and Community Resilience Center, we will use our experience to create and enhance multi-disciplinary threat assessment teams at four districts, furthering our goal of ensuring that students are safe both physically and emotionally, and that our schools are as secure as they can possibly be.”
About the Trauma and Community Resilience Center
The Boston Children’s Hospital Trauma and Community Resilience Center (BCH TCRC) is dedicated to understanding and promoting the healthy adjustment of youth and families who have experienced trauma and adversity. In partnership with communities and service systems, we build prevention and intervention programs, conduct research, and develop resources to assist refugee and immigrant families and service providers. At the BCH TCRC, we believe that social justice, equity, and human rights are at the core of a healthy society, and actively work to promote these values through our collaborative models of care for children and adolescents. To learn more, click here.
About the Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth, Inc.
Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth, Inc. is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that provides training, fosters collaboration, and develops programming to increase the health and safety of students. MPY is committed to bringing cutting-edge information and high-quality trainings to constituents and endeavors to provide solution-oriented, community-based, multi-disciplinary approaches to reducing and ideally eliminating risky behaviors for youth.
Massachusetts Partnerships for Youth is governed by a Board of Directors made up of school superintendents, police and fire chiefs, and other community leaders who work closely with MPY staff to deliver this mission. To learn more, visit: https://massachusettspartnershipsforyouth.com/.