Phildelphia CeaseFire partners with Mastery Gratz High School in North Philly

 

Philadelphia Ceasefire has been working in partnership with the staff and students at Mastery Gratz High School in North Philly since the 2014 school year.

 

PhilaCeaseFire staff working in the school, were screened by a community hiring panel including personnel from Mastery Gratz. We’ve had two full-time outreach workers and a part-time Life Coach in the school, working in tandem with the PhilaCeasefire team in the community. CeaseFire staff has worked with specific students referred to the program by teachers and staff. Our team also assisted school staff during transition times such as morning arrival, lunch time, and afternoon dismissal. During school hours, CeaseFire outreach workers resolved emerging conflicts, and helped diffuse problematic incidents with school staff. Additionally, they conducted home visits to Gratz students in the CeaseFire program, as well as potentially violent students who were often truant. CeaseFire outreach staff communicated on a daily basis with school staff to review their students’ progress as well as to review problems and conflicts occurring within the school.

**The outreach workers are NOT to be considered part of security for the school. An understanding that outreach staff are not disciplinarians is very important. Instead, it is of utmost importance they remain figures who are able to objectively hear what is happening, and use this vantage point to quell brewing conflict.