The Kentucky Center For Restorative Justice in 2019 received a The Violence Prevention Pyramid Project (VP3 or Project Prevent) is a five-year grant shared by Erlanger-Elsmere and Covington Schools that increases school district/school ability to address the needs of students affected by violence and to break the cycle of violence in the community. “Through this grant, we will be focusing on the needs of the whole student through academic learning, social-emotional learning and our collective impact on addressing mental health and well-being along with physical health and well-being,” said former Erlanger Superintendent Dr. Kathy Burkhardt, superintendent of Erlanger-Elsmere Schools. “It will allow us to continue to increase our school district’s capacity to provide learning environments that are positive and enriching for all students as we model and teach our students about conflict resolution and restorative justice practices. We look forward to the opportunity to collaborate with our students, families, and communities to focus on strategies to positively engage and enrich student learning in ways that promote empowerment and success. To serve students who have been exposed to violence or who may be prone to violence themselves, both districts will deepen their commitment to trauma-informed care, recognizing the role exposure to trauma can play and shifting from a “what’s wrong with you” to a “what’s happened to you” approach.
We are thrilled to be able to collaborate with Erlanger-Elsmere Schools on this important work,” said Janice Wilkerson, Ph.D., assistant superintendent of Covington Independent Public Schools. “The Northern Kentucky Violence Prevention Pyramid Project will provide resources to enhance our student behavior support processes including training for school staff members on trauma-informed practices and advanced interventions for students experiencing significant emotional or behavioral challenges.
“We are especially excited to work with the Kentucky Center for Restorative Justice and Community Restorative Justice and Community and Restorative Justice-Covington to bring formal restorative justice practices into our schools and the local communities.”
The grant is made possible through the collaboration of the Northern Kentucky Cooperative for Educational Services (NKCES). Since September 2010, the NKCES Grants Consortium has brought more than $50 million in federal, state, local, foundation and corporate funding into the Northern Kentucky economy in support of students in participating school districts.
In the Grants Consortium, representatives of 13 school districts meet monthly to network, to share information about current grant-funded projects, to learn about new opportunities and to plan collaborative grant proposals.
The Consortium also expands each school district’s capacity to fund programming to meet its own needs by providing workshops or training events for school administrators, teachers or other staff members.
“I am always impressed by the dedication of our public schools to serving the needs of every child, no matter the circumstances,” said Ms. Vicki Dansberry, director of the Grants Consortium. “This project will go a long way to building a successful future for many students who face the most serious challenges, building a supportive culture in the schools that will help children and youth orient themselves toward success.
(Article/The Northern Kentucky Tribune 10/19/2019)
