Citation

Gorman-Smith D, Bechhoefer D, Cosey-Gay FN, Kingston BE, Nation MA, Vagi KJ, Villamar JA, Zimmerman MA. Am. J. Public Health 2021; 111(Suppl 1): S25-S27.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, American Public Health Association)

DOI

10.2105/AJPH.2021.306280

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Violence, a leading cause of death in the United States (https://bit.ly/3esvTLM), leaves lasting scars among victims and communities. A recent study of 15- and 17-year-old youths living in high-burden Chicago, Illinois, neighborhoods indicated that almost 87% had been exposed to a serious form of violence, 32% had lost a close friend or family member to murder, and 18% had witnessed a fatal shooting (Gorman-Smith et al., unpublished data). Although these are staggering statistics, reducing and preventing youth violence is possible. We have a growing list of effective, evidence-based interventions, but why does implementation remain low?1

One reason for limited implementation is that practice-based and local knowledge often does not inform researcher-developed programs. Many researchers push evidence out to a community without meaningful participation from community stakeholders. By contrast, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funded Youth Violence Prevention Centers (YVPCs) to actively pursue community-academic partnerships (https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/youthviolence/yvpc/index.html). These collaborations offer a framework for public health violence prevention strategies.2 Combining community and academic perspectives through effective partnerships is critical in creating meaningful and sustainable community effects.

Understanding and preventing violence requires a coordinated, comprehensive, and community-tailored effort that integrates strategies and approaches across systems and sectors. YVPCs are examples of this kind of community-academic collaboration. Their success underscores several collective lessons learned...

Language: en