Northwest regional education service district (nwresd) serves the school districts and communities in oregon's four northwest counties-clatsop, columbia, tillamook and washington

The Northwest Regional Education Service District (NWRESD) was awarded a $1,000,000 Project Grant from the Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Assistance under the STOP School Violence Program (CFDA 16.839). Through this funding, NWRESD will implement a regional school safety initiative aimed at immediately responding to high-risk threats of violence across 20 school districts serving over 98,000 students in northwest Oregon. Key deliverables include developing and supporting a multidisciplinary Regional Behavioral Safety Assessment Team, comprised of representatives from schools, mental health, law enforcement, and social services. The team will provide expertise in behavioral safety assessments following evidence-based protocols. NWRESD will also hire specialists to provide training, technical assistance, and continuous improvement activities to increase the capacity of school districts and community partners to effectively apply behavioral assessment protocols through an equity lens. The goal of these efforts is to improve school security in alignment with the objectives of the STOP School Violence Program.

Nwresd is requesting category 2 funding in support of a program with the goal to increase the safety of students and staff across 20 school districts that serve more than 98,000 students in the region. The program objectives include: 1. School districts in the nwresd service area will increase their capacity to immediately respond to high-risk threats of violence in their schools after the development and implementation of a multidisciplinary northwest regional behavioral safety assessment team and related behavior safety assessment trainings and technical assistance, as measured by pre-post school participant surveys, training assessments and behavioral assessment team data. 2. School district partners and community partners serving on the multidisciplinary northwest regional behavioral safety assessment team will increase their knowledge and skills to effectively implement behavior assessment protocols with an equity lens as measured by pre-post training assessments. The northwest regional behavioral safety assessment team will include representatives from school districts, public mental health, law enforcement and community-based services to provide expertise in behavior safety assessment and will follow evidence-based protocols and procedures. Grant funding will allow nwresd to hire a behavioral safety assessment specialist and a school safety and prevention administrative specialist to implement the following activities aligned with program objectives: develop and implement a multi-disciplinary northwest regional behavioral safety assessment team, provide evidence-based training and technical assistance for community partners and school districts, and implement a continuous improvement process and plan for program sustainability.