Utilizing a research incubator approach to improve outcomes for children exposed to violence: Findings from the Safe Start Demonstration Project

The Safe Start Demonstration Project was a multi-site, multi-year demonstration project examining a systems approach to create a comprehensive delivery system that improves the identification, assessment and treatment of children exposed to violence and their families. Safe Start began in 2000 as a 5-year community based systems change project funded through the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). The purpose of the project was to prevent and reduce the harmful effects of children's exposure to violence.

As part of the demonstration project, the national evaluator—the Association for the Study and Development of Community—developed a “research incubator” approach to enhance the learning that could be generated from this demonstration project. Safe Start demonstration project sites were provided additional funding to extend their research on direct intervention and treatment programs with children and families that showed promise for learning about how to reduce the impact of exposure to violence.

This session will describe the framework for the Safe Start Initiative, describe the “research incubator” process and its importance in furthering the learning from community based systems change initiatives and share two examples of projects conducted as part of the incubator process. The incubator projects demonstrate how community driven systems change initiatives can reduce the impact of children's exposure to violence and document outcomes for this population.