As the United States Government, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), continues to support to regional governments to reduce youth crime and violence across the Eastern Caribbean, Kittitian and Guyanese officials working with at-risk youth have benefitted significantly from participation in the Fifth National Summit on Preventing Youth Violence held on June Monday June 27- Wednesday, June 29, in Baltimore, Maryland.

USAID Mission Director, Christopher Cushing led a U.S Government-sponsored regional delegation to the three-day Summit which included St. Kitts and Nevis’ Permanent Secretary Ministry of Health, Community, Gender Affairs and Social Services, Janelle Lewis, Director of Youth, Pierre Liburd and Guyana’s Senior Research Officer in the Ministry of Public Security, Courtney Samuels. St. Kitts and Nevis’ Ambassador to the United States, Dr. Thelma Phillip-Browne and Guyana-based USAID Program Management Specialist, Chloe Noble also participated in the forum. Mr. Cushing said the regional participants welcomed the opportunity to engage with their international counterparts who work with at-risk youth and those in conflict with the law.

“The Summit provided great opportunities for networking and the sharing of best practices. There was excellent dialogue among participants, which provided knowledge-sharing that will enrich our thinking and approaches within the Caribbean region. The forum was quite timely, given the fact that USAID is preparing to partner on new youth development and juvenile justice initiatives in the region,” he said.

The Summit themed: A Hopeful Future: Sustaining Our Work to End Youth Violence attracted over 600 national and international delegates and was hosted by the US Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Representatives of President Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper initiative, which seeks to ensure that all youth, including boys of color, are provided with opportunities to improve their lives and overcome barriers to success, also participated in the forum.

The meeting highlighted the work of the National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention - a network of 15 communities and federal agencies that share information and build local capacity to prevent and reduce youth violence, the Community-based Violence Prevention Program - which works to stop gun violence in 16 cities, and the Defending Childhood Initiative - which seeks to prevent and elucidate the impact of the trauma resulting from children’s exposure to violence.

Participants benefitted from myriad presentations and over 30 concurrent workshops over the three days on a range of topics which discussed violence reduction from the community, institutional, health and state levels. The sessions were organized around three daily sub-themes - ‘It Takes everyone’; ‘Innovations’ and ‘Communicating the Message’.

During the final session, participants heard from key Baltimore officials including its Mayor Stephanie Rawlings- Blake and Health Commissioner Leana Wen. Executive Director of the My Brother’s Keeper, White House Task Force, Michael D. Smith, also hosted a panel entitled: ‘My Brother’s Keeper Community Challenge’. Along with representatives from various cities in the USA, several national figures attended the Summit including U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Secretary of Education John King and Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez.