Hennepin County expands intervention program to address youth violence
MINNEAPOLIS — The Hennepin County attorney rolled out an expansion of an existing violence intervention program on Wednesday.
The goal is to give kids access to mentors and resources before they get involved in the criminal justice system.
Hennepin County is working with community partners to address violence committed by young people Together, they are rolling out Youth Group Violence Intervention. It's an expansion of a program focusing on adult crime intervention.
"This expansion pilot meets a critical need for services at an earlier point by creating a pathway to intervention from law enforcement referrals of young people who are not already on probation," Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said.
Law enforcement identifies who is a good candidate — most are kids who've had a sibling involved in crime or they've been spotted by police associating with other youth offenders already on court supervision.
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"We know that most violence is driven by a very small number of individuals and this strategy was designed to work with those very small number of people who are driving violence in our community and provide them with the resources support and accountability to move away from the violence and put their lives on a different trajectory," said Sasha Cotton, Executive Director of the National Network for Safe Communities.
Some will qualify for one-on-one mentoring, mental health or addiction counseling.
Leaders say families of the young people involved also get resources to better assist their child.
"Some of these kids just need someone that can help guide them down the right path instead of them getting involved in things that are going on in the community," said Muhammad Abdul-Ahad, Executive Director of T.O.U.C.H Outreach.
Abdul-Ahad is one of three community partners that will assist the youth. CEO and Change Effects Youth round out the teams designed to interrupt and change the lives of young people.
"It is voluntary so youth and their families have to decide if they want to participate and then that support begins from there," said Jen White with Hennepin County.
Moriarity says Youth Group Violence Intervention expansion complements an initiative developed in 2022 by the City of Minneapolis and Hennepin County juvenile probation who were already on supervised probation.
Moriarty says Youth Group Violence Intervention expansion complements an initiative developed in 2022 by the City of Minneapolis and Hennepin County juvenile probation who were already on supervised probation.