Back to Annual Meeting

Back to Annual Meeting

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Luis P. Cardona, Montgomery County Dept of Health and Human Services, Youth Violence Prevention Coordinator (Homeboy), 401 Hungerford Drive, 5th Floor, Rockville, MD 20850, 240-777-1001, Luis.Cardona@montgomerycountymd.gov, J. Henry Montes, MPH, Health Resources and Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 9028 Paddock Lane, Potomac, MD 20854, and Kate A. Garvey, MSW, Montgomery County Dept of Health and Human Services, Children, Youth and Family Services, 401 Hungerford Drive, 5th Floor, Rockville, MD 20850.

There have been several strategies discussed and utilized throughout the nation that fail to provide a solution based approach to deal with the gang issue. As the Youth Violence Prevention Coordinator for Montgomery County, Maryland, I have begun exploring methods that utilize a public health approach to deal with gangs. From this preliminary exploration the gang issue shows itself as more about a community's lack of attention to public health, and not solely about the lack of public safety. We have more police on the street than ever before, but gang violence seems to be growing not declining. The gang issue emerges most significantly when communities fail to have comprehensive public health services that help to strengthen families, provide positive youth development, and an education process that provides all children with a role of contribution to their community. The County Department of Health and Human Services has taken on the lead role in coordination of the implementation of the gang prevention initiative. Among the responsibilities of the Youth Violence Prevention Coordinator is to help coordinate a public health approach with all County services and community-based providers to help those youth involved in gangs to heal from many of the traumatic experiences that they have had in their lives, as well as to help create communities that can heal from high risk behavior. This approach requires new language, new strategies and new measures of success that include former gang member involvement in the solution toward the reduction of violence.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participants will be able to

• Discuss the comprehensive nature of the public health approach to the gang issue.
• Identify how this approach could be adopted in their community.
• Recognize how post traumatic stress syndrome, type II plays a role in gang violence.
• Describe what a healing process looks like in a community where there is extensive gang violence.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered