6: A Community Effort: Enhancing Student Safety With DC’s Safe Passage Program

As school districts focus on recovery efforts in a post-pandemic landscape, ensuring student safety during their commutes to and from school remains critical for academic success. This chapter tells the story of the “Safe Passage” initiative in Washington, DC, situating it in the national research on school violence reduction and in the context of other large districts utilizing similar initiatives. In response to a series of shootings involving students in 2017, community discussions were initiated to address safety concerns and inspired a community-driven safety approach called Safe Passage. Since then, various investments have been made by DC district leaders, including funding and recruitment of more than 200 Safe Passage workers, and the recruitment of 60 community-based organizations to serve as Safe Spots, offering refuge for students in need. This chapter explores the origins, implementation, and impact of Safe Passage programs within DC, and provides an example for school districts to develop similar community-based approaches to ensure student safety. Elevating issues of safety, equity, and implementation, this chapter offers a richly descriptive case study of positive change efforts and concludes with recommendations.