Site Descriptions

Current YVPCs

The current YVPCs include three centers funded in 2015 and two centers funded in 2016. Knowledge gained from this research will inform local solutions for youth violence prevention in other communities across the country. The primary objectives of these centers are to:

partner with community organizations, leaders, and stakeholders with the common goal of reducing youth violence
implement and rigorously evaluate community- and/or policy-level prevention strategies in high-burden communities
document the implementation of these strategies for future replication
evaluate the relationship between community readiness and capacity and prevention effectiveness

Currently, the YVPC prevention approaches are:

A social norming media campaign to promote positive racial identity while inspiring leadership and community engagement (University of Louisville)

Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) programming to evaluate the effects of “greening” (e.g., mowing, planting flowers on vacant properties) on reducing youth violence, crime, and intentional injuries (University of Michigan)

Communities That Care (CTC), a model used to collaborate with local partners and use community data to better inform strategies and policy that effectively address youth violence (University of Colorado; Virginia Commonwealth University; University of Chicago)

2015-2020 and 2016-2021 YVPCs include:

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University of Chicago
Researchers from the Chicago Center for Youth Violence Prevention (CCYVP) are collaborating with the University of Chicago, Bright Star Community Outreach, Northwestern University, and other community organizations to prevent violence in Bronzeville, a southeast Chicago neighborhood. This academic-community partnership is implementing the Communities That Care (CTC) model to build a community prevention approach by empowering residents to combine resources and form partnerships. View the CCYVP Fact Sheetpdf icon and visit their websiteexternal icon to learn more.

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University of Colorado, Boulder
The Youth Violence Prevention Center-Denver (YVPC-D) is a collaboration among the University of Colorado – Boulder, University of Colorado School of Medicine/Children’s Hospital Colorado, and local organizations in the Montbello and Northeast Park Hill communities of Denver, CO. This academic-community partnership is implementing Communities that Care (CTC) to collect data on risk and protective factors, create an action plan of community- and policy-level prevention strategies and implement and evaluate the impact of the strategies. Check out the YVPC-D Fact Sheet pdf iconand visit their websiteexternal icon to learn more.

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University of Louisville
The University of Louisville Youth Violence Prevention Research Center (UofL YVPRC) is working with community partners in West Louisville, KY, to develop, implement, and evaluate a social and traditional media campaign to create community pride, increase commitment of youth to use nonviolent solutions, and foster community norms that violence is preventable. Read the UofL YVPRC Fact Sheetpdf icon and visit their websiteexternal icon to learn more.

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University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
The Michigan Youth Violence Prevention Center (MI-YVPC) is guided by a collaboration among the University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, Rutgers University, the U.S. Forest Service, the Center for Community Progress, land banks, economic development organizations, health departments, hospitals, police departments, and community-based organizations in three cities: Flint, MI, Youngstown, OH, and Camden, NJ. These partners are evaluating the impact of improving vacant properties on youth violence, property crimes, and violence-related injuries. View the MI-YVPC Fact Sheetpdf icon and their websiteexternal icon to learn more.

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Virginia Commonwealth University
Virginia Commonwealth University’s (VCU) Clark-Hill Institute for Positive Youth Development and its partners in Richmond, VA, are implementing the Communities That Care (CTC) model. They are adding the Walker Talker and Community Conversation pieces designed to engage local residents in conversations with a community health educator, to the model and calling the prevention strategy CTC Plus. VCU Clark Hill Institute will assess the impact of CTC Plus on community-level youth crime and violence. Knowledge gained will strengthen Richmond’s youth violence prevention approach and inform how to prevent violence in other communities across the country. Check out the VCU Clark Hill Institute Fact Sheetpdf icon and their websiteexternal icon to learn more.

Past Initiatives

Four were funded in 2010 and two YVPCs were funded in 2011. The primary objectives of these YVPCs were to:

Partner with communities experiencing a high burden of youth violence
Implement and evaluate the effectiveness of comprehensive youth violence prevention strategies addressing risk and protective factors at the individual-, relationship-, and community-levels using evidence-based approaches
Use rigorous evaluation designs to assess the impact of these comprehensive approaches on reducing youth violence over time.

The YVPCs in 2010-2015 and 2011-2016 included:

Johns Hopkins University
University of Chicago
University of Colorado, Boulder
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Virginia Commonwealth University

Eight were funded in 2005 and two YVPCs funded in 2006. The primary objectives of these YVPCs were to:

Monitor the magnitude and distribution of youth violence in a defined community
Foster collaboration between researchers and communities by bringing together individuals with diverse perspectives
Mobilize and empower communities to address youth violence
Build the scientific infrastructure necessary to support the development and widespread application of effective youth violence interventions
Promote interdisciplinary research strategies to address youth violence in a defined community

The YVPCs in 2005-2010 and 2006-2011 included:

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Columbia University
Harvard University
Johns Hopkins University
Meharry Medical College
University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Riverside
University of Hawaii at Mānoa
University of Illinois, Chicago / University of Chicago
Virginia Commonwealth University

In 2000, the Centers were established. The primary objectives were to:

Develop the infrastructure to conduct interdisciplinary research relevant to youth violence
Create partnerships with communities to develop plans to address youth violence
Support the surveillance of youth violence in their specific communities
Conduct etiological work on risk and protective factors in youth violence
Develop, test, and implement violence prevention strategies
Mentor and train professionals to address youth violence

The YVPCs in 2000-2005 included:

Columbia University
Harvard University
Johns Hopkins University
University of Alabama at Birmingham
University of California, Riverside
University of California, San Diego
University of Hawaii at Manoa
University of Michigan
University of Puerto Rico
Virginia Commonwealth University

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The YVPCs research effective violence prevention approaches to promote thriving youth and build safer communities.

Page last reviewed: June 5, 2020

Content source: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division of Violence Prevention