Collaboration To Prevent Youth Violence: Houston Youth Voice, Health and Safety

Background: Youth Violence Prevention (YVP) is a multi-sectoral effort. The Houston Department of Health and Human Services (HDHHS) drafted a comprehensive YVP plan through a cross-disciplinary coalition of internal and external partners to address an array of risk and resilience factors for violence.

Method: A multi-disciplinary YVP coalition was created. The coalition engaged several stakeholders to achieve the following goals:  1) alignment of additional projects to the values and goals set forth in the Comprehensive Plan; 2) utilization of a centralized performance management tracking system that can be used to help align new initiatives and new partners with the Comprehensive Plan; 3) expansion of evidence-based program (EBP) pilot activities; and 4) successful funding applications for projects focused on transition age youth and coalition development across multiple risk factors.

Result: Salient features of the draft plan are: 1) it focuses on youth voice, health and safety; 2) it engages all levels of agencies and groups working in the area of YVP regardless of their size and capacity and provides some level of guidance to all; and 3) it allows and encourages evidence-based practices to be the pillar of YVP.

Conclusion: Preventing violence requires public health’s expertise in mobilizing partnerships. Local public health departments that want to effectively address violence must collaborate with other sectors to better understand each sector’s mandate, goals and activities.  Receiving YVP Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) at an intensive level will enhance the capacity of our coalition to address youth violence through a public health approach.

Learning Areas:

Assessment of individual and community needs for health education
Program planning
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health

Learning Objectives:
Describe the importance of multi-sectoral approach in Youth Violence Prevention List the salient features of a comprehensive youth violence prevention plan

Keyword(s): Violence & Injury Prevention, Youth Violence

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a staff member of the Office of Adolescent Health and Injury Prevention unit at the City of Houston Department of Health and Human Services (HDHHS). Currently serving as the Youth Violence Prevention Training & Technical Assistance (TTA) Initiative Primary point of contact at the health department, the Data and Evaluation Specialist of Striving To Reduce Youth Violence Everywhere (STRYVE) and chairman of Houston Youth Voice, Health & Safety Data Coalition Workgroup.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 3306.0: Violence Related Injuries