The 2009-2010 proposed biennial budget is expected to include more than $9 million for a new initiative to prevent youth violence with a focus on children at highest risk of perpetuating violence or becoming victims.

The Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative will set a new direction by identifying and helping children who are at a vulnerable point in their lives by:

Assisting youth with repeat offenses re-enter society from state detention programs.

Providing alternatives for youth who are arrested for crimes but released because they don't meet the admission criteria for county detention.

Helping middle-school truants and students at risk of suspension stay in school and succeed.

Preventing victims of violence and their friends and relatives from continuing the cycle of violence through retaliation.

While Seattle's overall crime rate has dropped to its lowest point since 1968, the number of juvenile violent crime incidents has remained constant at about 800 a year.

The initiative proposes a new approach to street outreach with the use of violence interrupters. It also calls for establishing youth centers with extended hours, giving children a safe place to keep out of trouble.

The city will work closely with middle schools to add police officers in schools, improve attendance and train children to deal with conflict. The city will also support more community-based projects that engage and mentor young people.

With a goal of cutting in half the number of incidents of youth violence within its first full year of operation, the initiative will include strict measures of accountability at two levels - whether neighborhoods and schools are safer, and whether individual lives are transformed as measured by results, such as school performance and recidivism.