BOSTON, March 8, 2016—Suffolk prosecutors and city officials yesterday honored two groups of East Boston middle schoolers who graduated from anti-violence training.

Two seventh grade classes at Mario Umana Academy were honored for completing Overcoming Violence, a violence prevention training program offered by Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley’s office. 

The six-week Overcoming Violence program uses an interview documentary, site visits, group discussions, and guest speakers – including  Suffolk prosecutors and victim-witness advocates, police officers, and corrections officers – to educate students about the root causes of violence as well as the long-term consequences of both positive and negative decisions. During yesterday’s graduation ceremonies, Assistant District Attorney Christina Miller, Conley’s chief of district courts and community prosecutions, and the City of Boston’s Chief of Health and Human Services Felix Arroyo each spoke to one of the groups of students about the importance of making positive decisions in order to reach their goals.  Each graduate received a certificate of achievement.

“Some of the most important work we do as prosecutors takes place in classrooms, not courtrooms,” Conley said. “The kids who completed this program today will be leaders tomorrow, and they’re going to carry the message of positive choices to the next generation.”

Overcoming Violence is a teaching tool that has been used in schools across Suffolk County, but prosecutors recognized the importance of bringing it to East Boston in particular after the fatal stabbings of two 15-year-old boys there in September.  To date, three seventh grade classes at Umana Academy have graduated from the program; Conley’s staff will present the curriculum to all of the school’s seventh grade classes before the school year is complete.

Conley’s office launched the anti-violence training in 2004 as Understanding Violence.  The curriculum was retooled and updated a decade later in 2014 with the help of Conley’s director of community relations, Tanya Brussa-Pagan, as well as graduate students in the UMass Boston Master’s in Human Services program, the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department, Boston Public Schools students, and the Boston Police Department.