Youth Gang Prevention Fund (YGPF)

• Total funding provided to 17 projects was $30,731,076 over 5 years.
• Reported cost per participant varied by project, for example: $18,608 (Gang Prevention Strategy), $8,786 (Surrey Wraparound), $12,720 (Durham Youth Gang Strategy), $23,348 (Youth At Risk Development), $27,758 per year (Youth Advocate Program), and other amounts stated per participant in different projects.
• Some projects received extensions beyond the initial 5-year funding period to ensure comprehensive implementation.

• The applicant must be a community-based organization.
• The project must focus on preventing or reducing youth gang involvement in communities with a known or emerging gang problem.
• The initiative must target at-risk youth or youth already involved in gangs.
• The project must implement or adapt evidence-based gang prevention models or promising approaches.

Who is eligible?

• Community-based organizations focused on youth at risk of gang involvement
• Organizations providing youth crime prevention services
• Nonprofit organizations delivering interventions for children, youth, and young adults
• Organizations working with Aboriginal/First Nations populations

Eligible expenses

• Salaries and benefits for staff involved in program delivery and case management.
• Costs for counselling services and therapist or counsellor fees.
• Training and educational materials related to program activities (e.g. life management, decision-making, gang risks, drug and alcohol education).
• Expenses for employment training and support for youth participants.
• Supplies and costs for arts, music, crafts, and sporting activities integrated within intervention programs.
• Resources for parenting skills development and healthy peer relationships training.
• Costs associated with cultural or community education initiatives for participants.

Eligible geographic areas

• Communities across Canada, including Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia.

• Evaluation design must include at least a pre/post-test repeated measures design.
• Statistical testing must be conducted (e.g., bivariate or multivariate analysis).
• Key outcomes must relate directly to gang involvement (e.g., anti-social peers, substance abuse).
• Final impact evaluation results must be available for review.

• The average program duration for funded projects was approximately 39 weeks, although this varied widely.
• Program evaluations emphasized measuring both knowledge and attitude changes, as well as risk and protective factors among participating youth.
• Family and community engagement was a recognized challenge and could impact overall project outcomes.
• Programs incorporating flexible and hybrid intervention models demonstrated higher adaptability to the Canadian context.