Originally a training organization, the Institute hired its first Executive Director in 2001 and the Streetworkers program was introduced in 2003. Since then, a constellation of programs has grown to better serve the community’s most vulnerable youth and families whose lives have been affected by violence. Today the organization has a $1.8 million budget, a board of 30 members and a staff of 32. THE NEED
Providence is one of the poorest cities for children in the nation, and poverty level correlates to rates of violence. There are estimated to be over 1,400 gang members in the city. A 2009 survey of youth in the Institute’s summer jobs program revealed that nearly 50% of the respondents had lost a family member to murder; 75% had lost a friend to violence; 90% had a friend who was stabbed or shot; nearly 90% said they regularly witness violence in their schools. PROGRAMS
Nonviolence Training directly teaches the principles and practices of nonviolence to students, police officers, inmates, and community members. Annually trains new trainers to work in schools and other settings. Outreach Specialists provide advocacy and mentoring, and act as a positive presence in the streets and in the lives of gang-involved or at-risk youth. They build relationships, gather information and mediate conflicts to prevent violence. They respond to stabbings, shootings and homicides. Youth Programs provide positive opportunities for youth in the form of employment, life skills training, leadership development, and safe-space and awareness-raising events. Victim Support Services reaches out to provide services to families and friends of homicide victims, as well as living victims of stabbings and shootings. Juvenile Reentry provides a family-centered approach and case management to releasees from the RI Training School referred by Probation and Parole Officers.
