Catalyst CT's StreetSafe Bridgeport

Catalyst CT, formerly Regional Youth Adult Social Action Partnership (RYASAP), works to ensure the safe and healthy development of youth, young adults, and families by actively engaging organizations, public officials, and community leaders around issues that matter most to the community.

StreetSafe Bridgeport's Mission

With an emphasis on safety, StreetSafe professionals with lived experience guide young adults in Bridgeport to improve emotional regulation and prosocial skills to attain self-sufficiency through education, trades, and career development. 

Target Population

StreetSafe Bridgeport works with young men who engage in or are victims of violence in Bridgeport and Stratford between the ages of 14-25 at enrollment. They face one or more of the following barriers:

• Justice involvement / arrests
• Active involvement in community violence (shooting, stabbing, fighting)
• Expulsion for possession of weapon and/or violence
• Active affiliation with groups
• Multiple suspensions for violence

Long-term Outcomes

After completing the StreetSafe program, participants will achieve these long-term outcomes for at least 12+ months:

• Enroll in post-secondary education or attain a certification for career advancement
• Maintain gainful employment in a roll that allows for skill development and/or successive wage increase
• No recidivism or new justice involvement

Program Summary

The StreetSafe Bridgeport team is a group of community outreach workers who provide mentorship, support, and positive youth development to young people throughout Bridgeport. In addition to their proactive violence reduction work, they respond to shooting incidences throughout the city and serve as a mediator to resolve conflicts that can erupt into more dangerous community violence.

In order to empower youth in their program to get back on track, the StreetSafe team looks to connect young people with opportunities that help to remove barriers, re-engage them in education, and develop cognitive behavioral skills to better regulate their emotions so that young people progress towards attaining gainful employment.

The StreetSafe team strategically partners with other teams within Catalyst CT and other community organizations in Bridgeport, including law enforcement agencies, to expand the availability of wraparound supports available to young people while enrolled in StreetSafe.

As a true partner, CTOP consistently looks for opportunities to support and improve Catalyst CT as an organization from operations to programming to help us maximize impact on our community. We have benefited both on the day-to-day operational improvements as well as long-term strategic thinking.

See StreetSafe's Impact in Gabriel's StoryVisit Catalyst CT's Website