The grants to engage men and boys as allies in the prevention of violence against women and girls program supports projects that develop and implement strategies that create educational programming…

This federal Project Grant award from the U.S. Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), under the Consolidated And Technical Assistance Grant Program to Address Children and Youth Experiencing Domestic and Sexual Violence and Engage Men and Boys as Allies (CFDA 16.888), provides $350,000 to Justice Innovation Inc. (doing business as the Center for Justice Innovation) for a 36-month project period beginning October 1, 2023.

The grant will fund the "Men Rising Initiative" in the Bronx and Harlem, New York, which aims to recruit and train men and boys as mentors, integrate education into existing programs, and develop a train-the-trainer program. The project will focus on recruiting cohorts of male "credible messengers" and gun violence prevention staff to participate in mentorship training, enable them to design and implement community-based public education campaigns, and implement three two-month train-the-trainer programs. The initiative specifically targets communities with majority Black, African American, Latinx, Caribbean/West Indian, Dominican, African, and Puerto Rican populations in an effort to address racial equity and serve underserved populations as OVW priority areas.

The grants to engage men and boys as allies in the prevention of violence against women and girls program supports projects that develop and implement strategies that create educational programming and community organizing to encourage men and boys to work as allies with women and girls to prevent domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, and SEX trafficking. With this funding, justice innovation, INC.will recruit men and boys as mentors, integrate education into existing programs, and develop a train the trainer program to implement the men rising initiative inthe bronx and harlem, new york. In partnership with the violence intervention program, INC., connect, getting out and staying out, bronxconnect, the new york city mayor's office of neighborhood safety, and the new york city mayors office to end domestic and gender-based violence, justice innovation, INC., willaddress the intersection of gun violence and intimate partner violence by: 1) recruiting cohorts of male credible messengers and gun violence prevention staff from gun violence prevention networks for mentorship training; 2) enabling cohort members to design and implement community norms change campaigns, including messaging, public education materials, and community activations; and 3) implementing three two-month train the trainer programs with men who complete the men rising initiative mentorship training to prepare them to lead similar mentorship programs in their communities. Also, the project will address OVW priority area 1, racial equity and 2, underserved populations by focusing on communities with populations that are mainly black, african american, and latinx with a large caribbean/west indian population, dominican, african, and puerto rican. The project period for this award is 36 months.