FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, October 3, 2014

CONTACT: Daisy Gonzalez-Diego
Miami-Dade County Public Schools
305-995-2060

M-DCPS AWARDED $4.3 MILLION GRANT TO SUPPORT SCHOOL SAFETY
 

MIAMI – Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) has been awarded a $4.3 million grant from the Office of Justice Programs’ National Institute of Justice (NIJ) through the Comprehensive School Safety Initiative (CSSI). The funds will support school safety through the district’s Campus Shield initiative, implemented under the “If You See Something, Say Something,” U.S. Department of Homeland Security national campaign. The school district announced the Homeland Security partnership earlier this year.

“The significant federal investment of $4.3 million will allow for the deployment of smart technology that will enhance safety and security in Miami-Dade Schools,” said Superintendent of Schools Alberto M. Carvalho.

Campus Shield is an innovative program piloted by Miami-Dade Schools Police (MDSP) that provides a centralized location for receiving, managing, and disseminating information related to threats to school safety. The system enables information sharing between agencies that can benefit schools and students by addressing threats before they turn into action.

The program provides a unique way of addressing crime by bringing together law enforcement and mental health providers—a crime analyst and a mental health specialist, for example—to work shoulder to shoulder for the benefit of students. Students’ mental health crises are of particular concern – Campus Shield is likely to unearth instances where students may be discussing threats to their own safety and/or to others that derive from psychosocial stressors.

Campus Shield was implemented following a joint roundtable on youth safety with Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho, Mayor Carlos Gimenez, and Miami-Dade County police chiefs. The initiative is pivotal to how MDSP collects, stores, and uses information to ensure a safe school and learning environment. The goal of Campus Shield is to address the magnitude of threats to school safety and to develop actionable information for an immediate and appropriate response to a school threat.

CSSI is a large-scale, multi-agency research effort to build knowledge about effective approaches to increasing school safety nationwide. Through CSSI, 24 research projects received funding under two different solicitations. M-DCPS received funding under “Developing Knowledge about What Works to Make Safe Schools.” The other solicitation focuses on “Investigator-Initiated Research.”

NIJ has primary responsibility for CSSI; however, the program is a collaborative effort among more than 20 federal partners, including the Department of Justice, Department of Education, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Homeland Security, and Department of Treasury. The goal of CSSI is to: collect national-level data; to convene stakeholders to identify and share best practices; and to conduct innovative research and evaluate pilot projects in school districts. 

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14-DGD/083/TTR

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