Cities can take action to prevent violence before it occurs, and they need help and support to be more effective. In late summer 2007, UNITY convened young people and representatives from cities across the country to prioritize strategies to prevent violence before it occurs. City representatives identified a set of key strategies from across the prevention continuum [Upfront, In The Thick, and Aftermath] that would support violence prevention efforts in cities and should be prioritized nationally to strengthen violence prevention resources and policies. They are:
Primary Prevention
UPFRONT
Secondary Prevention
IN THE THICK
Tertiary Prevention
AFTERMATH
- Positive early care and education
- Positive social and emotional development
- Parenting skills
- Mentoring
- Quality after school programming
- Youth leadership
- Social connections in neighborhoods
- Quality education* (including universal school-based violence prevention strategies)
- Economic development*
- Mental health services**
- Family support services
- Conflict resolution and interruption (including bystander skills)
- Mental health services**
- Successful reentry
* For broad categories which are largely under the purview and mandate of specific agencies, the focus should be on delineating the elements within that category that will specifically address violence.
** e.g. therapeutic foster care