More jobs, less youth violence, data and experts say: Pathways to Peace

The Volunteers of America's Face Forward 2 program offers a second chance to youth offenders by focusing on education and employment. Destyni Iverson believes the program potentially changed the trajectory of life. She said she felt hopeless when she enrolled, and was on the verge of becoming a high school dropout. Now she is enrolled as a nursing student at Cuyahoga Community College and believes she has a bright future.

In an attempt to bring peace to a region post-genocide, Rwanda has implemented "Reconciliation Villages" where survivors and perpetrators live side-by-side. This state-mandated reconciliation has lead to community service events that bring the two populations even closer together as they work to better the community they all live in.

Some local programs see youth employment as more than just a workforce development issue. They also view jobs as a way to offer stability to young people, especially those from Cleveland area communities with high violence rates. The research bears them out. These are the voices of some of the voices speaking in favor of more jobs and less violence.

There is a certain population of youth aged 16-24 that are neither in school nor working because of some derailment (oftentimes burdensome responsibilities) along the way. A national organization called Nxt Level helps people get back on track with their goals through a specialized team that helps an individual with things like getting a GED, mental health or legal resources, job training, and food programs. They even work with local businesses to give the kids a chance and hire them upon their completion of the program. Nxt Level now has centers in Baltimore, San Francisco, Washington, DC, and more.

The Chehalis school district has teamed up with the Chehalis Foundation to support students pursue higher education after high school. Only 15% of adults in the area have a bachelor's degree, and only 20% of graduating high school seniors earn a four-year degree. Now, the district is working to transform itself by retraining teachers to provide more rigorous lessons, placing emphasis on college preparation, and demystifying the college application and financial process for students and their families.

A program in Baltimore bring youths together with volunteer second “families” to help guide them through turbulent times.

Lawyers, clerks, and judges are voluntarily hosting warrant clinics around the United States to help people address active warrants for their arrest — typically small traffic violations and misdemeanors. The clinics offer childcare, too, which is a common barrier for parents looking to address warrants.

Maine's only offender re-entry program for women in Windham is on its way to replicate the success of similar programs in Texas and Nevada. Federal justice research has shown that offenders that go through re-entry programs are less likely to reoffend and more likely to hold down a steady job. The Windham program works towards this through their education program that incorporates students from local colleges as well as utilizing a collection of best practices developed by similar programs.

An organization in New Jersey called Hopeworks combines trauma-informed practices with career and life-readiness skill-learning. Teens who enter the program are equipped with a team of mentors (academic and life) to help guide them along the way, and they have a range of classes teaching tech skills such as web design or data management. Students testify to the importance of the community and the self-confidence it builds.

Almost 4 years ago, Opportunity Village was established in Eugene. It’s a community of tiny houses for people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.