City of Danville Youth Task Force

City of Danville Youth Task Force

The City of Danville Youth Task Force was created in response to City Council’s three strategic focus areas: to reduce violent crime, improve education and to grow Danville. The goal of the youth task force is to bring together community youth-seving agencies in order to identify system strengths, weaknesses & opportunities for collaboration.

The Youth Task Force contracted RDCG to develop an early adolescent prevention & intervention program that would address low academic performance, implement proven methods for behavior modification and reduce delinquency among youth in the City.

Through the seven-month community engagement process, RDCG coordinated and engaged in listening sessions and surveys with more that 300 stakeholders comprised of community leaders and individuals who live and/or work in neighborhoods disproportionately impacted by youth violence in the City of Danville. Listening sessions included focus groups and roundtables with groups of stakeholders in areas such as education, juvenile justice, out-of-school time, law enforcement and community residents.

We utilized external resources to gain insight about the challenges facing the City and the Region and to learn from national experts about models for community outreach in support of violence prevention. We also worked closely with the City of Danville Youth and Gang Violence Prevention Office throughout the process to gain insight and expertise and to also confirm all aspects of the pilot program aligned with the Department’s current and planned efforts.

In response to community engagement input and RDCG’s program recommendations, the City of Danville is developing job descriptions and infrastructure for Community Based Street Outreach Workers and other staffing needs, developing a centralized clearinghouse of community resources, and seeking funding for implementation. RDCG has been retained to facilitate project implementation.