Baltimore

• Baltimore's Safe and Sound Campaign has leveraged over $70 million dollars from public and private sources into strategic investments to improve the well being of children, youth and families.

These investments created new opportunities resulting in:

• 4,000 more families with young children receiving the support they need to succeed;
• A Baltimore City Public School System plan for increasing the number of children who read at grade level by age 9;
• 15,000 new after school program opportunities; and
• A law enforcement partnership among 14 city, state and federal agencies who, together with community partners, are targeting violent offenders and giving them a chance to change their ways or be locked away.

Conditions citywide have begun to improve. Since 1997:

• Infant mortality is down almost 19%;
• Child abuse and neglect, down over 20%
• Reading scores of third graders are up 50%; and
• The number of homicides has fallen 16%.

Metro Detroit

• In September of 2002, Mayor's Time launched www.mayorstime.com, an interactive website that allows parents and youth to search for after-school programs in their neighborhood by typing their address, school, type of program or which bus routes work best for them to allow their child to enroll in a quality program.
• At the Mayor's Time After School Fair each September, parents and youth fill Cobo Hall to register for after school programs and receive valuable youth-serving organization information. As a result of the first two After School Fairs, over 17,000 vacancies in after-school programs have been filled.
• Mayor's Time worked as a key partner to develop and implement the Michigan After School Initiative, a legislative task force charged with expanding after school program access throughout the state of Michigan as well as in Detroit. To date, the task force has been instrumental in developing a blended funding strategy to maximize state and private dollars as well as establishing a Children's Budget for the state.
• Upon writing and receiving a $592,000 grant from the US Department of Education, Mayor's Time and its after school provider partners have implemented a data tracking system to monitor participation in after school programs to determine what activities and at what dosage is necessary to improve academics and reduce negative youth behavior.
• In the spring of 2004, Mayor's Time launched the Mayor's Time Public Safety Academy, a co-op work study program designed to allow high school students in Detroit Public Schools to receive training and instruction to start careers immediately after graduation in fire fighting, law enforcement, homeland security and EMT services. The expanded Academy is funded through a grant written by Mayor's Time and several partners.

Oakland

• Safe Passages is helping to stop the revolving door of the juvenile justice system. Its Pathways to Change effort has served 114 kids who are paired with trained advocates who link them to wrap-around services such as counseling, court advocacy and tutoring. Repeat arrest rates of juvenile offenders enrolled in the program is only 11%, compared to a countywide average of 60%. Safe Passages is expanding this strategy citywide.
• Safe Passages will initiate a network of providers to give mental health consultations at child care sites and take referrals for individual infant/child-parent psychotherapy. The purpose is to reach young children who may have been exposed to violence and to prevent them from adopting violent behavior. The goal for the first year is to provide mental health consultations to 40-50 early childhood education classrooms and accept referrals for the infant/child-parent psychotherapy for 50-75 children.
• More than 5,000 children in Oakland are being taught a nationally renowned violence prevention curriculum from pre-school teachers and childcare center staff. Safe Passages funds and coordinates the training of these teachers.
• Site teams are in place at seven Oakland middle schools targeted by Safe Passages in order to provide students with at-school, professional help in navigating the emotional - and all too often violent - middle school years. These teams consist of a site coordinator, case manager and a mental health specialist. By the fall of 2002, more than 360 students had been provided with case management services at these seven schools.
  

Philadelphia

• Youth homicides have been reduced by about 65% in two police districts in North Central Philadelphia. Philadelphia's Youth Violence Reduction Partnership (YVRP) is currently expanding to another police district in Southwest Philadelphia. This effort, combined with other initiatives, strives to reduce youth homicides (those among ages seven to 24) by 50% citywide by the end of year 2005.
• As a complement to YVRP, Safe and Sound helped to create two Teen Centers in North Central Philadelphia. These two Teen Centers - plus another set in Southwest Philadelphia - provide positive opportunities for at-risk youth.
• Safe and Sound has created 25,000 new after-school slots and more than 100 new after-school programs.
• Philadelphia Safe and Sound led the creation of the first 11 Beacon programs in Philadelphia's history. Beacons, or school-based community centers, are a strategy for rebuilding community support for children, youth and their families. The goal of these schools is to establish safe havens for community residents and support safety, education, early care, youth development, and training and employment opportunities.
• Philadelphia Mayor John Street announced that his Children's Investment Strategy (CIS), led by Safe and Sound, is more than one-third of the way to its $150 million funding goal. About half of the goal is to come from the city budget and half from federal, state and private sources. CIS funds expanded after-school and other youth development opportunities.

Richmond

• Results of Richmond's Youth Matters' in-school literacy pilot program show that 88% of the 550 children enrolled in 2001-2002 improved at least one grade-level in their reading skills. More than 1500 children have participated to date. The ambitious goal is to have all 3rd graders reading at grade level by 2010.
• Youth Matters continues to chair the Early Child Development Coalition, co-founded by Success By 6 and the Action Alliance for Virginia's Children and Youth. The Coalition has received grants totaling $1.5 million and is making a significant impact on the quality of early care and education, ensuring that children begin school ready to learn. 91 childcare centers/family providers and more than 200 teachers are receiving training and technical assistance impacting more than 1500 children this year. By 2003 the number of nationally accredited childcare providers in the region will be doubled.
• Youth Matters secured $1.8 million in Federal Reading Excellence Act grant funds for nine elementary schools to provide reading support to children who are reading below grade level.
• Youth Matters led the creation of a Book Bank designed to ensure that all children have books in their homes. More than 15,000 books have been distributed to children throughout the greater Richmond area in the past year.
• Youth Matters helped restore $5.2 million in state funding for home visitor programs through their work with local legislators. These funds support the goal of ensuring that parents are their children's firsts teachers and children begin school ready to learn.