Several months after passing a resolution to realign youth violence prevention efforts in Aurora, City Council members moved forward with agreements providing $50,000 each to Cherry Creek and Aurora Public Schools for leadership programming.

The Juvenile Assessment Center, a nonprofit center that does assessments and provides case management for kids and families at risk of involvement in violence, will also receive $50,000 through the realignment efforts, according to intergovernmental agreements moved forward to the full council Wednesday that formalize the funding.

In November, Councilmember Angela Lawson proposed a resolution, that later passed, shifting funding from the Youth Violence Prevention Program away from nonprofit organizations and toward schools for prevention efforts. 

Lawson said at the time that the realignment was “no ding” on the nonprofits, but that a shift would help because the schools “know these kids, know the families and know what the kids need.”

Councilmember Stephanie Hancock agreed, saying the schools have contact with at-risk youth, making them better fit to help navigate the issue.

“Since they’re around the kids every day, they know what’s happening and are probably more likely to identify at-risk behavior before it becomes a problem,” Hancock said. 

In accordance with the resolution, members of the Housing, Neighborhood Services and Redevelopment Policy Committee approved moving forward with intergovernmental agreements Wednesday that would formally dedicate funding to Cherry Creek School District, Aurora Public Schools and the Juvenile Assessment Center. 

Through Aurora’s Youth Violence Prevention Program, each school district will get $50,000 for youth leadership programming and the Juvenile Assessment Center will get $50,000 for assessment and resource navigation, according to Lisa Battan, the city’s intervention programs division manager. 

Cherry Creek has had successful programming for several years and Aurora Public Schools is looking to replicate it, Battan said.

Cherry Creek Schools Leadership Academy is a year-long program for students affected by violence and crime to help them re-engage with education, according to the school district’s website.

The academy started in 2022 with funding from the Cherry Creek Schools Foundation.

When the resolution to realign efforts was passed in November, several councilmembers also expressed concern about the reporting from youth violence programming, saying there wasn’t much hard data coming from prevention efforts to let city officials know if they’re working.

Councilmembers requested that the intergovernmental agreements lay out specific reporting requirements. 

The agreements moved forward at the committee meeting state that the school districts have to collect and report participant data along with the number of students who successfully complete the program and participate in information sessions within three months of program completion.

The agreement with the Juvenile Assessment Center states that the center must provide data gathered from their quarterly evaluations with the city within a month of the evaluation period. 

While there isn’t much hard data on youth violence prevention in Aurora, Battan said the city’s Standing Against Violence Every Day (SAVE) program has been successful in making contact with 132 candidates since late 2023 and is engaging 20 families currently with case management. 

Late last year, SAVE was awarded a $2 million federal grant to assist its efforts.

In late February, two teenagers were arrested in connection with a shooting at Skate City on East Girard Avenue that injured two other teens, according to an Aurora Police Department news release. 

In March, a 15-year-old boy fatally shot another 15-year-old and injured himself while playing with a gun, according to an Aurora Police Department release.