We are thrilled to announce that three Stoneleigh Fellows helped secure $4.2 million in new federal funding for Philadelphia that will help make the city and its schools safer for our children and youth.
Some of the money came from two competitive grants, announced by the U.S. Department of Justice this week, to expand programs that keep children in school and out of court, provide job training for youth, and school-based behavioral health support to at-risk boys. Along with these grants, the Department of Education awarded the School District of Philadelphia a five-year, $3.5 million School Climate Transformation Grant to overhaul approaches to disciplining students.
Our Stoneleigh Fellows advance cross-systems reforms to improve outcomes for vulnerable children. Working directly with leaders and stakeholders in child-serving systems, Stoneleigh Fellows address issues such as youth violence prevention, the impact of trauma, creating safe learning environments in schools and child well-being. Today, we want to highlight and celebrate the individual and collective work of three of our Stoneleigh Fellows:
Jody Greenblatt: School Safety – Jody led the effort to apply to the Department of Education for the five-year, $3.5 million School Climate Transformation grant, and will direct the implementation of this work in the School District of Philadelphia.
Richard Greenwald: Youth Violence Prevention – Richard leads Philadelphia’s Youth Violence Prevention Collaborative, the City’s initiative to tackle violence in the 22nd Police District. Richard will direct the implementation of a $100,000 Department of Justice grant to expand evidence-based youth programming in that community.
Naomi Goldstein: School Diversion Program – Naomi leads the evaluation of Philadelphia’s cutting-edge cross-systems program to reduce school arrests and prevent young people from getting funneled into the school-to-prison pipeline. The Department of Justice awarded the City $600,000 over three years to evaluate and expand this program.
We will continue to share news on the progress of these initiatives and the work of all of our Stoneleigh Fellows.
