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4 Jun 2020
Report

Massachusetts’s Safe and Successful Youth Initiative (SSYI) Continues to Reduce Violent Crime and Improve Lives

Patricia E. Campie, AIR
Nicholas Read, AIR
Trevor Fronius, WestEd
Garima Siwach, AIR
Kevin Kamto, AIR
Sarah Guckenburg, WestEd
Olivia Briggs, AIR
Hannah Persson, WestEd
Anthony Petrosino, WestEd
Learn more about the Massachusetts Safe and Successful Youth Initiative (SSYI) project >>

Read the report's key findings >>

Since 2013, AIR, in partnership with WestEd’s Justice & Prevention Research Center, has served as the evaluator for the Massachusetts Safe and Successful Youth Initiative (SSYI). SSYI is a multifaceted, community-based strategy that combines public health and public safety approaches to eliminate serious violence among proven-risk, urban youth ages 17–24. SSYI sites altogether serve nearly 1,900 youth at any given time in Massachusetts communities. In the earliest studies of SSYI, the AIR-WestEd research team found that the intervention was associated with a reduced level of violent crime victimization in SSYI communities, a reduced likelihood of incarceration for SSYI participants, and societal cost savings of as much as $7.35 (in 2013 dollars).

In 2018, AIR-WestEd continued their evaluation of SSYI. The most recent implementation and impact study focused on five core research questions:

  1. What is the continued and longitudinal impact of SSYI on community-level violent crime and victimization?
  2. What is the cost-effectiveness of SSYI’s impact on violent crime?
  3. What are the outcomes and experiences of SSYI clients across cities?
  4. How is SSYI implemented within each funded city?
  5. What are the capacities of SSYI-affiliated service providers and in what ways do providers collaborate in each funded city?
After 2012, clients enrolled in SSYI had 36% fewer violent offenses and 20% fewer non-violent offenses than did young men identified for the program who never enrolled.

The findings from the study illuminate a clear distinction between cities with SSYI relative to similarly violent cities without SSYI. This evaluation was also the first opportunity to deepen the examination of SSYI beyond communities and look at the outcomes and impacts for the individuals targeted by and involved with SSYI. The findings provide a more nuanced understanding of the positive impact of SSYI on these individuals.

Image of infographic showing cost-benefit analysis of SSYI

Key Findings
  • Since SSYI’s inception, rates of violent offenses and victimization in non-SSYI cities saw modest decreases or were relatively stable. Conversely, in cities with SSYI funding, rates have steadily declined since 2012.
  • After 2012, clients enrolled in SSYI had 36 percent fewer violent offenses and 20 percent fewer non-violent offenses than did young men identified for the program who never enrolled.
  • Cities with SSYI continue to see a positive return on their investment, netting a more than $5.00 societal benefit from reduced victimization costs for each $1.00 invested in SSYI (in 2018 dollars).
  • Analysis of self-reported survey data from SSYI clients shows that SSYI provides these young men with resources and supports they value, if not depend on.
  • Participation in SSYI facilitates meaningful changes in the lives of participants that decrease their likelihood for future involvement with violence and improve their prospects for future personal, social, economic, and physical wellbeing.
PDF icon Safe and Successful Youth Initiative (SSYI) Evaluation: 2018–19 Final Programmatic Report (PDF)

Related Projects

gun violence.jpg

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Project

Safe and Successful Youth Initiative in Massachusetts (SSYI)

Youth violence disrupts communities and businesses, increases health care costs, and decreases property values—not to mention the human impact. The Safe and Successful Youth Initiative (SSYI) in Massachusetts combines health and safety approaches to eliminating serious violence among high-risk, urban youth. Does it work? Three new AIR evaluations, announced by MA former governor Patrick, showed youth not involved in SSYI were 42% more likely to be incarcerated than youth who were.

Related Work

1 Nov 2014
Report

Massachusetts Safe and Successful Youth Initiative: Benefit-to-Cost Analysis of Springfield and Boston Sites

This benefit-to-cost analysis was conducted as a preliminary investigation into the value of the Safe and Successful Youth Initiative implemented in Massachusetts as an effort to curb violent crime in eleven cities across the state.
Topic: 
Juvenile Justice

Further Reading

  • The Impact of the Safe and Successful Youth Initiative (SSYI) on City-Level Youth Crime Victimization Rates
  • Community-Based Violence Prevention Study of the Safe and Successful Youth Initiative: An Intervention To Prevent Urban Gun Violence
  • The Impact of the Safe and Successful Youth Initiative on City-Level Youth Crime Victimization Rates
  • Safe and Successful Youth Initiative in Massachusetts (SSYI)
  • A Comparative Study Using Propensity Score Matching to Predict Incarceration Likelihoods Among SSYI and non-SSYI Youth from 2011-2013
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Contact

photo of Trish Campie

Patricia E. Campie

Principal Researcher
Image of Nicholas Read

Nicholas Read

Senior Researcher

Topic

Violence Prevention
Youth-Serving Systems

RESEARCH. EVALUATION. APPLICATION. IMPACT.

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