FY2023 Youth Development Fund
Congratulations to our 2023 Youth Development Fund Grantees!
The City of Boston's Office of Human Services is happy to announce our 2023 Youth Development Fund Grantees. We allocated $1.5 million to support violence prevention programs and activities for young people ages 10-24 across Boston. This year, 60 nonprofits received funding. The awarded programs will serve a projected 7,046 additional young people, with a focus on those from neighborhoods with higher concentrations of youth, such as Roxbury, Mattapan, and Dorchester.
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Have questions? Contact:
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Fund partners:
- Mayor Michelle Wu
- Office of Human Services
- Office of Public Safety
Grant details
We're prioritizing applicants providing positive violence:
- prevention
- intervention, and
- response services throughout the City.
The focus is on youth and young adults between the ages of 10 and 25. Our goal is to increase the number and variety of youth development programs. These programs should contribute to metrics that prevent youth and young adult violence.
The fund will prioritize the following types of organizations:
- Boston-based nonprofits in neighborhoods disproportionately impacted by gun or youth violence
- Youth-serving groups with a focus on outreach and engagement of high-risk and proven-risk youth and young adults, or other specified underserved youth population
- Organizations using the Positive Youth Development framework or Meaningful Youth Engagement practices, or both
We're also concentrating on supporting programs that use evidence-based prevention strategies to shape individual behaviors and relationship, community, and societal factors that influence the risk for violence. Examples of evidence-based Youth Violence Prevention strategies include but are not limited to:
- strengthening youth and young adults’ developmental skills
- connecting youth to caring adults and a safe space when not in school
- creating protective community environments, and
- intervening to lessen harms and prevent future risk.
Violence Prevention Framework
The City of Boston’s framework focuses on:
- addressing violence through the public health lens of prevention, intervention, and response;
- tackling the social determinants of violence;
- using data, research, and evidence-based strategies; and
- ensuring a full continuum of services and programs are available to all youth and young adults.
All the while, we're constantly striving to improve and enhance communication and coordination:
- across departments, and
- with our external community partners.
- activities
- programs, and
- policies intended to prevent violence
- produce behavior change, or
- improve specific outcomes for targeted populations or communities
- mitigate the impact of violence in the community,
- respond to immediate needs associated with it, and
- support individuals, neighborhoods, and the community as a whole to rebuild after violence occurs.
About Human Services
The Mayor’s Office of Human Services (OHS) cabinet oversees 6 departments and offices that are all striving to create a healthier Boston. The mission of the Human Services Cabinet is to provide equitable access to high quality services, resources, and opportunities so that every Boston resident - especially those with the greatest needs - has what they need to thrive. In pursuit of this mission, the department in the Human Services Cabinet meet residents where they are - in their homes, neighborhoods, and communities - to break down barriers to critical resources.
We provide a wide array of critical programs and services. We also advocate for systemic change to tackle root causes of some of our most pressing challenges in the City.
"We are excited to be able to continue to support many of our non-profit partners in the work of building community, and providing high-quality, safe and engaging activities for youth and young adults in Boston. This robust network of programs meets youth where they are and is a key part of our violence prevention strategy"
— José F. Massó, Chief of Human Services
Who's Involved:
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Have questions? Contact:
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Fund partners:
- Mayor Michelle Wu
- Office of Human Services
- Office of Public Safety
