The gila river indian community proposes to create a school justice partnership committee, a system-level collaborative partnership

The Gila River Indian Community (GRIC) was awarded a $1,000,000 Cooperative Agreement from the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention under the STOP School Violence Program (CFDA 16.839). The project aims to create a School Justice Partnership Committee to develop a strategic plan for the Juvenile Probation Department to work with schools on the Gila River Indian Reservation. Key activities include establishing partnerships with service providers, placing juvenile probation officers in schools, creating engagement specialist/resource navigator positions to work with youth and families, providing stakeholder training, and developing a database to track data. The expected outcomes are to reduce youth suspensions/expulsions, increase school safety, locate out-of-school youth, and assist with school enrollment. The project period is October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2026.

The purpose for the committee is to create a strategic plan to guide the juvenile probation department in working in the schools located on the gila river indian community reservation. Project activities include creating partnerships with service providers; placing juvenile probation officers into the school to identify and assist youth who need "backpack" services; create engagement specialsist/resource navigator positions to work with youth and family in their home to address familial needs and youth's issues which may result in behavioral issues at school; training for stakeholders, service providers, youth, and their families; creating a database to track and utilize data; and hold monthly education and cultural classes for the youth and their families. The expected outcomes include reducing the number of youth suspended or expelled due to classroom behavior, to increase school safety, and to locate the invisible population of school aged youth not enrolled in school, and to assist the family to enroll those youth into school. Persons at risk of being involved in the juvenile justice system of the gila river indian community are the intended beneficiaries of the project.