How we can help more young people thrive
This month, during a gathering of law enforcement, advocates, service providers, public health practitioners and crime survivors, Gov. Wes Moore announced that Maryland’s Department of Juvenile Services is taking a new approach to address gun violence among young people (“Victim compensation, gun violence reduction, police recruitment among Maryland Gov. Wes Moore’s 2024 criminal justice priorities,” Jan. 9).
Gun violence is both a public safety crisis and public health crisis. And although gun violence declined in Maryland last year and Baltimore had fewer than 300 homicides for the first time in nearly a decade, we can and must do more to increase intervention and prevention to reduce gun violence — especially when it comes to helping our young people thrive.
Borrowing from the successful Group Violence Reduction Strategies employed around the country — including in West Baltimore — the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services became the first juvenile justice agency to apply such strategies to youth in the juvenile justice system with the launch of our Thrive Academy. Through Thrive the department is working hard to reduce shooting incidents among the youth in our care.
Data show that 85% of Maryland youth who were victimized by gun violence in 2023 lived in one of four jurisdictions — Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Prince George’s County and Anne Arundel County. So that’s where we started, launching Thrive in Baltimore City and in Baltimore County on Sept. 1, with plans to expand to Prince George’s County and Anne Arundel County this month.
With the help of the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform, our program identifies the top 2% of youth referred to the department who are at highest risk of being either a perpetrator or victim of gun violence and offers them admission to Thrive.
Academy members then work closely with life coaches and specially selected case managers to develop individualized plans to help get kids on the right track. Plans can include assistance entering and paying for college, a paid job or service in the community, trauma therapy and even relocation assistance. Young people are also provided with a stipend for agreeing to enter Thrive and for achieving certain milestones.
Results so far are promising.
Although only in operation for about five months, 96% of Thrive Academy youth have remained free of gun-violence involvement. They are attending or enrolling in school, engaged in vocational training, working or actively seeking employment. By showing commitment to a holistic and intensive approach to prevention, intervention and accountability, we’re helping our most at-risk youth support themselves and their families — all to make our communities safer.
As the governor has acknowledged, there will be robust debate during this legislative session about juvenile justice — and we’ll be an active participant in those conversations. But it is undeniable that programs like Thrive have the potential to both change lives and save lives.
Working together, and with the youth who are most in need, we can, and will, make our communities safer and build a brighter future for more of Maryland’s youth.