Westeds justice and prevention research center (JPRC) will utilize this funding to support its RE-imagining justice project titled VOICES of informed community engagement for safety (VOICES)

The U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance has awarded a $2,000,000 Cooperative Agreement to WestEd's Justice and Prevention Research Center (JPRC) to support the "Voices of Informed Community Engagement for Safety (VOICES)" project. This project aims to address community safety issues in the Riviera Beach neighborhood of Southeast Florida. The key objectives are to: 1) assess the community's safety needs and identify an appropriate safety strategy, 2) assist the community in implementing the new Riviera Beach Community Safety Strategy (RBCSS), and 3) evaluate the RBCSS for continuous quality improvement, sustainability, and crime reduction. The VOICES project is a partnership between JPRC, the Palm Beach Public Defenders Office, Palm Beach Reentry Council, Riviera Beach Police Department, and the Reimagining Community Safety Taskforce. The award date is October 1, 2024, with a completion date of September 30, 2027, supporting a multi-year effort to develop and implement a new community-driven safety model for Riviera Beach.

VOICES aims to address the community safety issues in the riviera beach neighborhood in southeast florida. This project is a partnership between JPRC, the palm beach public defenders office, palm beach reentry council, the riviera beach police department, and the reimagining community safety taskforce. The goal is to implement VOICES to develop a new community safety model within riviera beach, foster collaborative capacity, and remove barriers within the city that may hinder opportunities for underserved individuals. The JPRC will support palm beach county in identifying and implementing a new riviera beach community safety strategy (RBCSS) by facilitating VOICES. VOICES incorporates a system thinking approach to assess community safety needs, identify innovative solutions, improve implementation readiness, and evaluate for continuous quality improvement and sustainability. The primary objectives of this project are the following: assessing the needs of riviera beach to identify a community safety strategy that meets their communitys specific needs; assisting the community in implementing the RBCSS; and evaluating the RBCSS for continuous quality improvement, sustainability, and reducing crime.