Back to Annual Meeting

Back to Annual Meeting

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Mark C. Edberg, PhD¹, Sean Cleary, PhD, MPH², Joanne Klevens, MD, PhD³, Alex Taylor Del Cid, PhD⁴, Isaac Castillo, MS⁵, Elizabeth Collins, MPH¹, Eugenio Arene, MA⁴, and Gabriel Albornoz, MA⁵. (1) Department of Prevention and Community Health, George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, 2175 K Street, NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20037, 202-530-2330, medberg@gwu.edu, (2) Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, 2300 I Street, NW, Ross Hall 125, Washington, DC 20037, (3) Division of Violence Prevention, NCIPC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Highway, MS K-60, Atlanta, GA 30340, (4) Council of Latino Agencies, 2437 15th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20009, (5) Latin American Youth Center, 1419 Columbia Road, NW, Washington, DC 20009

In the suburbs of Washington, DC as well as in other similar communities around the country, violence among Latino immigrant youth has substantially increased over the past decade. A range of social, demographic and community factors play key roles: patterns of sequential family immigration that have consequences for family cohesion and contribute to a reliance on peer socialization; a lack of language and culturally appropriate services for immigrant youth who face barriers to successful school performance and drop out early; low awareness/perception of community support; the presence of several major Latino gangs, at least one of which is rooted in El Salvador; and the integration of violence into prevalent youth norms related to status and reputation. In collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the George Washington University (GWU) Department of Prevention and Community Health (SPHHS), together with two key community partners – the Council of Latino Agencies (CLA) and the Latin American Youth Center (LAYC), has collected baseline data and is implementing and evaluating an intervention called SAFER Latinos (Seguridad, Apoyo, Familia, Educacion, y Recursos) -- a primary prevention program targeting community mediating factors for youth violence. This paper will present the intervention model, review baseline data (from a community survey and focus groups), and discuss progress over the first year.

Learning Objectives:

• ·Learn about social and community factors contributing to youth violence in recent immigrant Latino communities.
• ·Learn about an intervention model designed to target such factors, and about progress as the model is implemented.

Keywords: Youth Violence, Latino

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No