DJJ announces $63M to support School Safety

The Office of Justice Programs’ National Institute of Justice (NIJ) announces it has awarded nearly $63 million to school districts and research organizations through the Comprehensive School Safety Initiative (CSSI). CSSI is a large-scale, multi-agency research effort to build knowledge about effective approaches to increasing school safety nationwide. Through the initiative, 24 research projects receive funding under two different solicitations. The first, “Investigator-Initiated Research,” includes nine awards to research organizations totaling more than $18 million. The second, “Developing Knowledge about What Works to Make Schools Safe,” provides more than $45 million to 15 school districts and their research partners. In South Carolina, the Chesterfield County School District is the recipient of a $2,460,220 award to be used on the “Integrative Models: PBIS and Olweus Bully Prevention “ project. “This funding is being awarded as part of the Comprehensive School Safety Initiative, a large-scale, multi-agency research effort to build practical, and scientifically-sound, knowledge about effective ways to increase school safety nationwide,” said Attorney General Eric Holder. “These collaborative efforts will yield new insights and evidence about what works and what doesn’t, when it comes to school discipline, violence and bullying reduction, school resource officers, mental health professionals and justice interventions like youth courts.” President Obama’s January 2013 plan to end gun violence emphasized keeping guns out of potentially dangerous hands and recognized that additional actions are needed to make our schools safer. CSSI was launched in early 2014 in response to a congressional request for a broad, research-based effort to increase safety in the nation’s schools.