Seattle Team For Youth (STFY), a gang intervention and educational support program partially funded by the Families and Education Levy, has been selected to receive a 2003 Frederic Milton Thrasher Exemplary Program Award by the National Gang Crime Research Center (NGCRC). The award, created in 1992, recognizes exemplary gang prevention/intervention programs, initiatives, and agencies in the United States and abroad. STFY is a collaborative effort between 12 community based agencies, the City of Seattle Human Services Department (HSD), and the Seattle Police Department.

Awards for exemplary national models will be made in mid-August during the NGCRC's 2003 Sixth International Gang Specialist Conference in Chicago, Illinois. An exemplary program is one of proven effectiveness which can be adapted to other jurisdictions. Terry Hayes and Fausto DeGuzman of HSD-Division of Family and Youth Services will lead a workshop describing Seattle Team For Youth’s accomplishments and methods for replication.

The Thrasher Award is named in honor of Frederic Milton Thrasher, author of a 1927 classic study of Chicago gangs, who generated the first social scientific analysis of gangs. The NGCRC is a nonprofit independent agency that carries out research on gangs and gang members, disseminates information through its publication The Journal of Gang Research and reports, and provides training and consulting services.

STFY community partners are the Atlantic Street Center, Central Youth and Family Services, Central Area Motivation Program, El Centro de la Raza, Filipino Youth Activities, Lao Community Center, Metrocenter YMCA, Safe Futures Youth Center, Southeast Youth and Family Services, Southwest Youth and Family Services, United Indians of All Tribes Foundation, YouthCare.