Integrated approaches to prevent violence and improve physical activity and healthy eating in underserved communities

Catalyzed by the Convergence Partnership pilot initiative, an innovative network of diverse partners—including philanthropic organizations, community-based organizations with long histories working on alcohol and other drug-related youth violence prevention and childhood obesity prevention, government agencies representing the public health and law enforcement, and neighborhood youth and residents—have teamed up to prevent chronic disease by preventing violence. The unique collaboration is leveraging each partner's expertise and resources to advance the creation of health-promoting environments in neighborhood parks and trolley stations throughout western Chula Vista, California, a border town located 7 minutes north of Mexico.

Building off previous collaborative successes, this multi-disciplinary team embarked on working in an strategic manner to achieve authentic community change. Through the application of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) strategies and community organizing and capacity-building opportunities, youth and adult residents are playing a key role in addressing substandard conditions in neighborhood public spaces tarnished by the threat of violence and a poorer quality of life. This process also inspired the idea of creating new strategies for addressing the root causes and social concerns in target areas, which have contributed negatively to community well being, and have led to the under-utilization of public spaces.