ACT NOW

Youth Deflection and Community Safety: Report from the Nation to the Nation

ACT NOW held listening sessions in 14 communities to give us their ideas on the kind of policing they were seeking. These listening sessions along with Breaking Bread events brought people together from all demographics. We met with over 20,000 individuals and 1200 rank and file officers from urban, rural, and tribal communities. 

Our purpose was to discuss how their communities could strengthen policing and at the same time keep young people out of the criminal justice system. What we heard was that they were looking for a whole of community and a whole of society approach to community safety. 

This report documents that the most consistent and persistent message is the need  to design strategies to keep young people in school, employable, healthy and thriving. We call the target population opportunity youth.  Learn more.