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New Hope for Youth begins street outreach in Santa Rosa; city reports first six months of enrollments and activity
Summary
Under a two-year, $600,000-per-year contract, New Hope for Youth launched a credible-messenger street outreach and crisis response team in February. In its first six months the program enrolled 78 youth in case management, engaged 60 families, conducted 226 neighborhood climate checks and reported more than 3,000 service sessions.
The Santa Rosa Violence Prevention Partnership reported Sept. 9 on the first six months of a newly implemented street outreach and crisis response program managed by New Hope for Youth. The contract, approved by council in November, funds a two-year program (with an option to extend) focused on high‑risk, gang‑impacted youth and their families.
Danielle Ronshausen, the city’s violence‑prevention program manager, told council New Hope for Youth became fully operational in February after being selected through a competitive RFP. The program uses a “credible‑messenger” model that emphasizes trauma‑informed case management by staff with lived experience.
From January through June, staff reported that New Hope for Youth: enrolled 78 youth into case management; enrolled 60 families and produced 51 family case plans; conducted 226 neighborhood climate checks (submitting 121 graffiti reports to the city); and provided 3,104 mentoring and service sessions across 3,104 total sessions and roughly 4,244.5 hours of mentoring and other direct service.
Ronshausen said referrals come from multiple points, including the city’s Guiding People Successfully program, probation, the Santa Rosa Police Department’s gang-crimes team, schools and direct outreach. She said hospital outreach remains a work in progress after initial outreach to the local trauma center; the city and New Hope are pursuing additional entry points to hospital-based intervention.
The city and New Hope stressed the need to keep outreach separate from law enforcement to build trust, while maintaining collaboration for referrals. Ronshausen said the Santa Rosa Police Department and probation participate in regular operational coordination and monthly climate checks to share hot-spot information and referrals.
Council members and staff described early signs of progress. Staff and councilmembers reported anecdotal decreases in youth violence during the summer and noted that probation and juvenile-hall partners were observing fewer youth arrests; Ronshausen said the city is working to obtain corroborating data from SRPD and juvenile-justice partners. Council members called for continued coordination with schools and for attention to domestic-violence indicators among youth and families served.
