Supporting Young Victims in Antelope Valley

OVC’s mission is to enhance the Nation’s capacity to assist crime victims and provide leadership in changing attitudes, policies, and practices to promote justice and healing for all victims of crime. OVC achieves this mission, in part, by administering discretionary award programs supported by the federal Crime Victims Fund to develop innovative training and technical assistance, and to provide direct services to improve the overall quality of victim assistance. The purpose of the FY 2018 Enhancing Community Responses to the Opioid Crisis: Serving Our Youngest Crime Victims is to address an urgent gap in crime victim services related to the opioid epidemic and to expand upon existing or establish new programs to provide services to children and youth who are victimized as a result of the opioid crisis. The overarching goal of this program is to support children and youth who are crime victims as a result of the opioid crisis by providing direct services and support to these young victims at a community or jurisdictional level.

With this award, the Serving Young Victims in Antelope Valley (SYV-AV) project will serve children and youth between the ages of 6–17 who are crime victims as a result of the opioid crisis in Antelope Valley, California. To enhance services for this vulnerable population, Antelope Valley Partners for Health (AVPH) will partner with Child and Family Guidance Center (CFGC) and Tarzana Treatment Centers (TTC) to implement SYV-AV. Additional partners who will refer victims to SYV-AV include the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services; the Sheriff’s Department; local schools and school districts; and nonprofit service providers. SYV-AV partners will deliver information, services, and support to child and youth victims and their caregivers including intensive case management, wraparound services, and direct programming including evidence-based mental health services, a mentorship program, and an Alateen support group. AVPH will also work closely with SYV-AV partners to build and implement a feedback system to strengthen data collection and analysis to inform service delivery. Finally, AVPH will enhance current efforts and ensure a coordinated community response to the target population by convening monthly meetings of project partners, engaging existing coalitions of community stakeholders, and sharing information about SYV-AV at its annual Wellness Symposium.
CA/NCF