Grantee Partner Organizations

6/24/2025

A Connecticut Violence Interruption Group Traded Paperwork for an App. It’s Been Transformational.

COMPASS Youth Collaborative Peacebuilders drive through the streets of Hartford aiming to connect and engage with the city's hardest-to-reach youth. Peacebuilders track and maintain data in the organization's custom, secure, mobile-first data platform called Navi that was designed by Peacebuilders to support their work most effectively. Navi has become the digital backbone of the organization's efforts to interrupt gun violence. Learn more.

6/16/2025

Roca Hartford Celebrates 22 Program Graduates

After coming to Hartford in 2021, Roca Inc's Young Women's Program celebrated their first-ever cohort of graduates, which consisted of 22 young women. This program seeks to help young women break cycles of poverty, trauma, and violence. These women have learned emotional regulation, workforce, and life skills to get back on track to a path of self-sufficiency and build a life without violence and poverty for themselves and their children. Watch the video for more.

6/13/2025

Compass Youth Collaborative Works to Prevent Youth Violence in Hartford

In Fox61's segment Making an ImpaCT, the news team highlights CTOP Grantee Partner, COMPASS Youth Collaborative, for their work interupting violence in Hartford. Peacebuilders are anti-violence professionals who go into the community to connect with the hardest-to-reach young people by showing care, offering support with basic needs, and building trust to help young people change their behaviors and get back on track.

2/15/2025

Opinion: CT can get disconnected youth on the right track

In this op-ed, Domus Kids' Chief Justice Officer Tom Langan urges the Connecticut Legislature to take action to reconnect the one in five young people in the state who are experiencing disconnection or at risk of it. He discusses recommendtions on how to support nonprofits in making a measurable impact on young people's employment outcomes and get them on a path to self-sufficiency.

2/10/2025

Roca Inc. receives $460K grant to aid young women in the greater Hartford area

The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving awarded our grantee partner Roca Hartford Young Women's Program to continue their work in supporting young women from the Hartford area to find employment, secure housing and child care, help them obtain their GEDs and open their own bank account. Their program allows young women to change their behaviors and live independent lives in the long-term.

2/6/2025

Hartford Nonprofit Earns Grant To Train Culinary Workers

CTOP Grantee Partner, Forge City Works, won $10,000 to renovate a former cafe space into a flexible and functional training center from The Jacques Pépin Foundation. This funding will allow Forge City Works to increase the number of trainees in their program and increase the number of participants at public cooking classes.

1/7/2025

2024 Crime Review: Homicides, Gunshots Down

Homicides and gunshots in New Haven fell by more than 30% in 2024, even as the city saw a jump in nonfatal shootings. Part of the reason for this success is more effective commuity outreach programs, like CTOP grantee partner CTVIP. CTVIP received a grant from the state's Commi9ssion on Gun Violence Intervention and Prevention which allowed them to canvass the community and prevent retaliatory shootings and relocate potential victims. Read more.

12/26/2024

CT Expert Weighs in on How to Quell Gun Violence

Dr. Kerri Raissian, director of University of Connecticut's Advancing Research, Methods and Scholarship in Gun Injury Prevention, discusses the disparities that exist in gun violence in Connecticut. She believes targeted resources should be allocated to nonprofits, like COMPASS Youth Collaborative, that provide trauma-informed therapy to youth affected by gun violence and a hospital bedside intervention model to ensure victims have the care they need to reduce gun violence in Hartford.

12/11/2024

Opinion: Youth interventions can prevent future violence and stabilize CT neighborhoods

Marc Donald, CEO of CTOP Grantee Partner, Catalyst CT, writes this op-ed about exposure to traumatic events during childhood results in significant risk factors for both experiencing and committing violence. To address this crisis impacting youth all over the state, LifeBridge and Catalyst CT, in partnership with local schools, promote critical protective interventions through programs that strengthen youth's social and emotional health.

11/1/2024

Anti-Violence Rx: Food. Laundry. Community

U.S. Senator Blumenthal visited our grantee partner, Connecticut Violence Intervention and Prevention (CTVIP), to celebrate $275,000 in Federal funds to the organization for capital improvements to their facility in New Haven. The renovations will allow CTVIP to build a full kitchen, laundry room, and computer lab to provide young people in New Haven with basic needs, which are forms of violence prevention.

10/28/2024

Community Violence Prevention Group Receives $198K in Federal Funding

Our grantee partner, COMPASS Youth Collaborative, received $198,000 in grant funding from the Department of Justice to provide wraparound services and basic needs to victims of violence in Hartford. US Senator Blumenthal and Mayor Arulampalam of Hartford joined the COMPASS team to announce this funding award. Read more about the press conference and the impact this funding will have on young people in Hartford.

10/9/2024

Former ‘at-risk youth’ talk resources as CT weighs investments

Connecticut's Conference of Municipalities' 119k Commission created a 10-year strategy that aims to reduce the number of at-risk and disconnected young people in our state by half. With the release of that statewide strategy, Gov. Lamont met with young people from Our Piece of the Pie to better understand the circumstances that led to their disconnection and the supports that OPP provided to get them back on track.

10/7/2024

$100K grant for New Haven organization aims to help at-risk youth

Our grantee partner, Connecticut Violence Intervention and Prevention (CTVIP), received a $100,000 grant from Everytown Community Safety Fund in support of their violence reduction work in New Haven. CTVIP provides at-risk and disconnected youth with resources, life skills, and mentorship to help young people live a healthy and sustainable life. Read more about their work and the impact this funding will have.

10/7/2024

Job training program at Hartford Food Pantry Helps Teens as They Assist Others

COMPASS Youth Collaborative operates a Training for Employment (TEP) program, where COMPASS young people work at the Joan Dauber Food Pantry at St. Francis Hospital to build transferrable skills to prepare for the workforce. COMPASS Peacebuilders, trained in cognitive behavioral therapy, support young people during their shifts by reminding them of their goals and values when they get off track.

8/5/2024

Silver Linings Talk Show Ep 42: Compass Youth Collaborative with Jacquelyn Santiago Nazario

Watch grantee partner COMPASS Youth Collaborative's CEO, Jaquelyn Santiago Nazario, speak with Silver Linings Talk Show on Valley Shore Community Television in an inspiring conversation about her life in Hartford, her servant leadership mindset, and how COMPASS is transforming lives of young people through hospital violence intervention and street outreach programs.

7/12/2024

Commission On Gun Violence Finds Large Racial Gap In Fatal Shootings

The Commission on Community Gun Violence Intervention and Prevention found that Black males in Connecticut were about 30 times more likely to be killed by gun violence in comparison to White residents from 2020-2023. The findings demonstrate a need for violence reduction organizations, like COMPASS Youth Collaborative, Roca, CTVIP, and Catalyst CT.

7/10/2024

Hartford to address educational challenges by launching a Blue Ribbon Commission

Mayor Arulampalam of Hartford responds to residents concerns about Hartford Public Schools by launching the Blue Ribbon Commission to address challenges. The Commission will be led by three co-chairs, including Hector Rivera, CEO of CTOP Grantee Partner, Our Piece of the Pie. The commission aims to pinpoint issues, develop recommendations, and craft a report for the mayor and Hartford Board of Education.

6/24/2024

Orgs Like Compass Youth Collaborative Are ‘Proof Of Concept’ For Reducing Gun Violence, Murphy Says

At COMPASS Youth Collaborative's Annual Meeting, they convened a panel of experts, advocates, and lawmakers to celebrate COMPASS's work and its success in helping to reduce gun violence in Hartford. According to U.S. Senator Chris Murhy, federal funding to organizations like COMPASS have led to the largest drops in gun violence in the U.S. in decades. Read more of Senator Murphy's comments.

6/21/2024

ER interventions try to cut down on Hartford gun violence

COMPASS Youth Collaborative, a CTOP grantee partner, provides patients admitted to Hartford hospitals with gun-related injuries with wraparound services during their hospital stay and afterwards, as well as supporting their families. Read more about how COMPASS is reducing gun violence recidivism in Hartford.

5/23/2024

New Stamford nonprofit to raise private dollars for ‘pocket parks,’ small green spaces

Stamford mayor, Caroline Simmons, announced the creation of the Stamford Parks Community Partnership, which will beautify parks across the city. The initiative will leverage the DomusWorks program, a workforce readiness initiative of CTOP grantee partner, Domus Kids, that provides job training and subsidized employment for program participants. Read more about the partnership.

4/24/2024

The price of a gunshot: Health impacts and the cost of violence on Latinos

Gun violence suffered by Latinos in the U.S. has increased. Survivors often face a difficult road ahead that includes medical bills and accessing mental health resources. Read more about COMPASS Youth Collaborative Peacebuilder, Diego López's experience, and how he builds transformational relationships with young people to help them down a better path.

4/1/2024

Jacquelyn Santiago Nazario, 2024 Women in Business Honoree

COMPASS Youth Collaborative CEO, Jacquelyn Santiago Nazario, was named one of Connecticut’s Top 25 Women in Business for 2024 by the Hartford Business Journal. Read her interview about her career and accomplishments.

3/7/2024

How a CT man rose from homelessness to leadership

Joshua Brown reflects on the impact that Domus Kids had on his life. He now works with Domus to re-engage at-risk and disconnected young people by providing them with the skills and resources to be self-sufficient. Now tri-chair of the 119k Commission, Brown strives to make systemic change to improve the lives of young people in Stamford. Read to learn more about Joshua's story.

2/5/2024

When Fact is More Alarming Than Fiction, Action is Required

In this op-ed, Marc Donald, Executive Director, and Jeremy Kosbob, Philanthropy Manager, of CTOP Grantee Partner, RYASAP, describe the importance of taking action to address Connecticut's Unspoken Crisis because young people's futures hang in the balance. Read more to understand the supports and programming RYASAP provides to support this population of young people on their path to success.

1/31/2024

Preparing Connecticut’s youth for opportunity can’t wait

In this op-ed, Jackie Santiago Nazario, CEO of COMPASS Youth Collaborative, discusses her organization's relentless support to re-engage off-track and disconnected young people in Hartford. COMPASS helps young people develop key skills to be ready and willing to work and transform their lives, bridging a critical gap identified in Connecticut's Unspoken Crisis.

1/12/2024

Opinion: CT's children in crisis can learn that 'letting people help me is OK'

Mike Duggan, Executive Director of CTOP Grantee Partner, Domus Kids, writes an op-ed that calls attention to the crisis young people in Connecticut are facing. With 119,000 young people off-track or disconnected, there is a moral and economic imperative to help get young people in the state back on track through organizations like Domus.

12/20/2023

Connecticut’s young people on the state’s 'Unspoken Crisis'

Co-CEO of Dalio Education, Andrew Ferguson, speaks on Connecticut Public Radio's show, "Disrupted," about Connecticut's Unspoken Crisis, the recent report showing that 1 in 5 young people in Connecticut are at-risk or disconnected from prosocial institutions. The second half of the broadcast includes interviews with young people in Connecticut who got back on track through partnerships with CTOP grantee partners, Domus and Our Piece of the Pie.

12/7/2023

CT event raises $2.2 million. And no, it was not a political fundraiser.

The "Love Hartford Benefit Dinner" raised money for the Hartford Youth Service Corps, a program that supports young people (ages 16-24) in Hartford who are disconnected from work and school. The initiative was started by Mayor Luke Bronin's office and administered by CTOP grantee, Our Piece of the Pie (OPP). The benefit's fundraising efforts will support OPP in supporting 500 youth next year in the Youth Service Corps.

11/28/2023

7 organizations awarded state funding for community gun violence prevention

CTOP grantee partner, Connecticut Violence Intervention and Prevention, was one of seven organizations awarded a three-year grant from the state Department of Public Health. With this new funding, CTVIP will begin serving teenage girls in New Haven through the MakeHerSpace program. Other CTOP Grantees were also awarded the same grant, including Compass Youth Collaborative and Roca in Hartford.

11/16/2023

Growing truancy crisis grows In America's classrooms

Byron Pitts from ABC News' Nightline reports on the growing truancy crisis in American schools. In the video piece, he travels to Hartford, CT and follows Peacebuilders from COMPASS Youth Collaborative on a ride along and interviews program participants to understand the impact the program has on Hartford youth. Watch the piece here and learn what COMPASS Peacebuilders are doing to combat truancy and community violence.