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Columbus County Schools Lands $1.5M in School Safety Grants
Raleigh, NC – In a move to bolster school safety nationwide, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) has awarded nearly $63 million to school districts and research organizations through the Comprehensive School Safety Initiative (CSSI). The initiative is a large-scale, multi-agency research effort to build knowledge about effective approaches to increasing school safety across the country.
Columbus County Schools received $1,499,019 and will partner with Robeson County Schools. The proposed 3-year research project aims to implement and evaluate a restorative justice school safety initiative that reduces bullying perpetration and victimization, aggression, and violence, enhances school safety and mental health in middle and high school students, and reduces the school-to-prison pipeline by diverting first offenders from the juvenile justice system into school-based Teen Courts for middle and high schools.
The study will be conducted in Columbus and Robeson County, both of which are rural, impoverished, and ethnically diverse. Staff from the North Carolina Academic Center for Excellence in Youth Prevention will complete the research evaluation. NC-ACE is one of six CDC-funded youth prevention centers and the only one working in rural areas. Robeson County Teen Court and Youth Services will coordinate implementation fidelity for the proposed project.
“This funding is being awarded as part of the Comprehensive School Safety Initiative – a large-scale, multi-agency research effort to build practical, and scientifically-sound, knowledge about effective ways to increase school safety nationwide,” said Attorney General Eric Holder. “These collaborative efforts will yield new insights and evidence about what works – and what doesn’t – when it comes to school discipline, violence and bullying reduction, school resource officers, mental health professionals, and justice interventions like youth courts.”
The Comprehensive School Safety Initiative has three primary goals: to collect national-level data, to convene stakeholders to identify and share best practices, and to conduct innovative research and evaluate pilot projects in school districts. The programs and policies within CSSI are designed to produce evidence about what works in such areas of school safety as the effectiveness of school resource officers and mental health professionals, violence and bullying reduction, and the effectiveness of restorative justice interventions like youth courts.
President Obama’s January 2013 plan to end gun violence emphasized keeping guns out of potentially dangerous hands and recognized that additional actions are needed to make our schools safer. CSSI was launched in early 2014 in response to a Congressional request for a broad, research-based effort to increase safety in the nation’s schools.
The initiative has received widespread attention for its efforts to address school safety concerns nationwide. With the $63 million investment, the nation will gain a deeper understanding of school safety that is scientifically sound, practical, and easily interpreted and used by schools.
Key Facts
- State: North Carolina
- Category: Public Corruption
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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