Westchester County Unveils Safer Communities Anti-Violence Blueprint
At a Fall Forum last week, County Executive Robert Astorino unveiled the Safer Communities Blueprint, a resource guide to prevent and stop the spread of violence in Westchester communities. The initial focus of the Blueprint is on addressing the correlation between chronic school absenteeism and at risk behaviors by young people.
“This is just the start,” Astorino told more than 100 people gathered at the White Plains Library. “The Blueprint is designed as a dynamic document that we will continue to add to. We are already looking forward to examinations of elder abuse and domestic violence.”
The Safer Communities initiative was launched in January when Astorino brought together schools, civic groups, and the county’s departments of Public Safety, Health and Community Mental Health to develop a multi-pronged plan to address violence – from root causes to consequences – in response to the tragic school shootings in Newtown, Connecticut.
The Blueprint is an ongoing compilation of best practices that have proven successful in preventing violence combined with a list of resources that are available locally. The 40-page document was produced over the last seven months by the Safer Communities Action Network, a group of 40 volunteers drawn from around the county with a wide variety of professional expertise working alongside the departments of Health, Community Mental Health and Public Safety.
The initial focus on school absenteeism and suspensions was recommended by the Action Network, which concluded that efforts in Yonkers and Mount Vernon to reduce school absenteeism had been beneficial and should be expanded.
The Blueprint was unveiled at the Fall Forum, a gathering of more than 100 mental health professionals, educators, law enforcement officials and community leaders. Jonathan Fast, MSW, PhD, an expert and author on adolescent violence, discussed the importance of the Blueprint and how it can best be used by local communities.
“The Safer Communities initiative represents a unique countywide effort to combat bullying, terroristic attacks, domestic violence, street crime, and other forms of violence using cutting-edge knowledge derived from best practices in public health,” Fast said. “That so many people of different professions—law enforcement, academic researchers, educators, health workers, and others—could collaborate so productively over a short period of time is a testimony to excellent organization and dynamic leadership.”
The Blueprint employs a public health approach to violence, treating it as if it is a disease. Emotion is replaced with evidence-based data that is applied against what is called the SAFER methodology.
Surveillance: Define the problem. Assessment: Determine the causes. Focus: Target interventions. Evaluation: Measure results. Repeat: Continue and enhance what’s working; drop what’s not working.
Since January, the Safer Communities initiative has focused on a variety of collaborations among school districts, nonprofits and county and local governments to prevent violence in practical and cost-effective ways.
Future challenges to be addressed by the Action Network include bullying, elder abuse, and crisis intervention.
The Blueprint is available online at www.westchestergov.com.
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.
