What is Safe Start?
Safe Start is a five and a half year demonstration initiative funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) of the Department of Justice.

What is the goal of Safe Start?
Safe Start ultimately desires to reduce the impact of exposure to violence on children 0 to 6 years old, enable children to reach their optimal potential, and help them enter school ready to learn. The goal of Safe Start is to leave a lasting effect on the communities, so that the initiative melds into the community's natural functioning. A planning body facilitates the forming of a strong collaborative structure, which then translates into consistent community efforts constantly re-evaluated by results-based performance measures. This systems change initiative intends to positively impact the various levels of systems (family, agency, community) in which children, youth and their families function.

How is the money used?
The funding helps eleven urban, rural, and tribal communities address the impact and issues faced both by young children exposed to violence within homes, schools, and communities, and by the families of these children.

What are Safe Start's strategies?
Safe Start allows these communities to look at existing systems and compare them to proven best practices and existing models, in order to enhance, integrate, and expand the existing services. This holistic approach demands a consistent plan and structure to ensure a timely and effective response. The initiative helps the communities implement effective prevention and intervention strategies, while maintaining a constant focus on building collaboration and awareness of the issues related to children's exposure to violence. A seamless collaboration among community leaders and organizations, parents, and public/private sector providers should exist to foster this partnership. Successful collaboration requires good communication within itself and also among the community to promote community-wide awareness and involvement. The collaborative should function to promote policy and systemic change within agencies, across agencies and systems, and within the broader community, including on a local and state level.

Where are the Safe Start sites?
The eleven communities involved in the initiative are Baltimore, MD; Bridgeport, CT; Chatham Co., NC; Chicago, IL; Pinellas Co., FL; Rochester, NY; San Francisco, CA; Sitka, AK; Spokane, WA; Washington, Co., ME; and Zuni, NM.