What is VIP,  What It Offers, and Who We Serve
The Violence Intervention and Prevention (VIP) Program at Just Us 4 Youth is a multidisciplinary, trauma-informed initiative focused on interrupting cycles of violence, reducing recidivism, and promoting healing and transformation in Pomona and surrounding communities. The program provides individualized case management, mentorship, restorative justice support, gun violence intervention, reentry navigation, crisis response, and quality-of-life outreach including harm reduction and civic engagement efforts. Participants also receive systems navigation and advocacy support to access education, mental health care, legal aid, housing, and workforce opportunities. Services are delivered in schools, neighborhoods, juvenile detention facilities, community centers, and reentry settings. The program serves youth, transitional age youth (TAY), and the people and communities they are connected to, including individuals impacted by the justice system, gang-affiliated youth, and students facing school pushout or structural barriers to stability.

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The Impact and Vision of the Program
The VIP Program seeks to build lasting safety, opportunity, and accountability for individuals most impacted by violence, incarceration, and systemic inequities. Through mentorship, trauma-informed support, and culturally grounded engagement, the program helps participants heal from harm, rebuild their lives, and reenter society with dignity and direction. Systems navigation and advocacy play a critical role in helping clients overcome institutional and justice system barriers to access the services and opportunities they need to thrive. Success stories include youth returning to school, peace pacts between rival neighborhoods (ceasefires), individuals successfully completing probation/parole terms, expungement processes, and at-promise youth and returning citizens gaining stable housing and employment. This work is essential in the broader context of justice and equity, as it addresses the root causes of harm while equipping participants to lead positive change in their communities.

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Funding and Key Partnerships
The VIP Program is funded by the California Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC CalVIP Grant), the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health’s (DPH) Trauma Prevention Initiative (TPI), the City of Pomona’s Office of Violence Prevention (Pomona OVP), and the Amity Foundation. The program’s effectiveness is strengthened through partnerships with the Pomona Unified School District, Claremont Unified School District, Charter Oak Unified School District, School of Arts and Enterprise (SAE), Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center (PVHMC), God’s Pantry, SoCal Crossroads, and Cal Poly Pomona. The Pomona Community Action for Peace (CAP), and the Pomona Violence Prevention Partnership (PVPP) are key collaborators in aligning community resources and coordinating local violence reduction strategies. 

Collectively, these partnerships are essential to sustaining the VIP Program and ensuring it can deliver holistic, high-impact support to justice system-impacted youth, TAY, and their communities.