Alvin Atkinson is interim director of the WSSU CCS.
The Center for Community Safety (CCS) at Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) recently received a $100,000 grant to support its work with community groups, advocacy organizations, government agents and others in three North Carolina counties to reduce racial disparities in the state’s juvenile justice system.
The grant, which was awarded by the Public Welfare Foundation in Washington, D.C., will enable the CCS to build upon its efforts of engaging communities to use data-driven strategies to address juvenile crime and other community safety issues. The three focus counties for this project are Forsyth, Guilford and Cabarrus.
“Obviously, we are very pleased to have been selected, as this is our first grant award from a national private foundation and it is a highly competitive process,” said Alvin Atkinson, interim executive director at the CCS. “Receiving the grant also serves as validation that our work with our community partners is heading in the right direction. From our beginning in 2001, we have focused on youth and have worked to inform and support our partners in making our communities a better place to live, learn, work and play.”
The grant CCS received was included in the Foundation’s Criminal and Juvenile Justice Program. The program seeks to establish more effective and fairer criminal and juvenile justice policies and institutions throughout the nation. In addition, the Foundation’s grantmaking aims to lower overall rates of incarceration and help eliminate unequal treatment of African Americans and Latinos.
The $100,000 award, along with funding from the N. C. Governor’s Crime Commission and the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation in Winston-Salem, will enable the CCS to continue addressing two major issues that are prevalent in North Carolina’s Juvenile Justice System: the over-representation of minority youth, or disproportionate minority contact (DMC), and the need to improve outcomes for juveniles returning from secured facilities.
“DMC and juvenile reentry have become common phrasing to describe actions taken to support youth returning from secured custody and preventing them from future contact with the criminal justice system,” added Atkinson.
The Center for Community Safety is an important community outreach and engagement program for WSSU. Over the years, it has become a national leader in promoting the creation, development and sustainability of successful community partnerships that create safer, more stable communities.
