Projects for Service and Skills

In an increasing number of communities in America, the relationship between community-based organizations, healthcare and law enforcement have broken down due to distrust and poor coordination. The situation has been exacerbated by the additional financial, social and healthcare hardships created by the pandemic.

Today, about one in nine individuals between the ages of 16 and 24 are neither working nor attending school. These opportunity youth are a direct casualty of this breakdown, which is increasing the risk they will end up in conflict with the community and police. 

To combat this, police, healthcare and community organizations need to work together to engage opportunity youth in a way that addresses the underlying financial, social and emotional causes that lead to joining gangs and engaging in other criminal activities. 

This means:

• helping youth develop and showcase skills that can lead to good jobs, 
• role models and peers that can support their development,
• positive experiences engaging with community and law enforcement,
• pay good enough to keep them engaged

Projects for Services and Skills rebuilds trust between police and communities by creating positive experiences, opportunities and pathways to better futures for opportunity youth. 

Police departments & community-based organizations will work together to provide paid, hands-on projects that opportunity youth can complete in their spare time or during the summer. The projects are structured to develop and showcase skills that can help the youth get, and succeed in, good part-time jobs. 

The projects themselves are designed to build bridges between the community and the police. For example, a project might involve canvassing local businesses for suggestions on how to improve safety in the vicinity. The youth are taught how to present themselves, conduct the interviews and present the results. This education is a combination of mobile-based learning and mentoring by community organizations. Police will sponsor projects and provide feedback and testimonials that can help build credibility and character.

We have piloted and delivered similar programs with other organizations. For example, we delivered summer youth employability projects with Northeastern and the City of Boston with great success. We have also delivered projects sponsored by state police that have demonstrably driven community engagement in difficult to access international student communities in Australia. 

Our partners have also delivered programs domestically and internationally that help disadvantaged and justice involved youth build skills and gain employability.

What we are proposing is to combine the best parts of these concepts into a sustainable model that can be rolled out nationally, with an initial focus on urban areas with stressed relations between the community and law enforcement.