Project Gang Alternative

The Health and Human Services Department, Office of Minority Health has awarded Miami’s Gang Alternative1 a grant (YEPMP170095) to conduct a 4-year study designed to significantly reduce the impact and prevalence of violence among racial/ethnic minorities in the communities of Little Haiti, Liberty City, Pinewood, Westgate, Westview, and Biscayne Park within the larger Miami-Dade area. Dedicated to and named to commemorate the 88 teens killed by gun violence in Miami since 2013, the Minority Violence Prevention Project 88 (MVP 88) will bring innovative approaches to delivery of evidence-based practices that have proven highly effective to reduce violence, aggression, and substance abuse/use among youth.  MVP 88 will serve youth ages 14-18 attending Miami Edison Senior High School and Miami Northwestern Senior High School. The project delivers evidence-based methods, including a violence prevention program (ART®2), substance abuse prevention sessions (Botvin Lifeskills3), and college readiness and access training. In addition, by the use of individualized Youth Service Plans, a comprehensive needs assessment and case management services are implemented to improve health status, education, public safety, access to public services and individual behavioral health and/or substance abuse treatment needs. FIU-CBRI researchers, under the leadership of Dr. Michelle Hospital, have partnered with Gang Alternative to serve as the evaluation team for this project.

 

Principal Investigator: Michelle Hospital, Ph.D.

Co-Investigators: Eric Wagner, Ph.D. & Staci Leon Morris, Psy.D.

Project Coordinator: Michael Vasconez, MSW | mvascone@fiu.edu | (305) 348-5388

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