Connecting Youth Violence Prevention, Positive Youth Development, and Community Mobilization

Abstract

Several disconnects serve to weaken the use of evidence based programming in community settings. Communities face the need to address the challenges of multiple risk behaviors faced by adolescents in their communities, but must also work to support successful transitions to adulthood and the broader positive development of their youth. The stronger integration of positive youth development and prevention of youth risk at the community level may offer an opportunity to support the implementation and ongoing development of evidence-based practices (EBPs). This article provides an overview of the VCU Clark-Hill Institute for Positive Youth Development Institute's community mobilization effort in Richmond, Virginia and reports preliminary findings from our integrated mobilization efforts. First, we review the role of our Community Advisory Council in their collaborative work to support positive youth development and reduce risk for youth violence. Next, we present examples of institute efforts in providing technical assistance relevant to supporting the use and development of EBPs. We then discuss the adaptation of an evidence-based program to target positive youth development. We also present overviews from qualitative investigations examining barriers and supports that inform and are relevant to the implementation of EBPs. Finally, we consider ways in which community efforts inform and shape institute efforts to develop EPBs. Taken together, these activities provide examples of how community-based mobilization efforts can integrate and inform the implementation of EBPs and the role and use of prevention science as a tool in supporting effective programming to promote positive youth development and prevent youth violence.

Connecting through music: The contribution of a music programme to fostering positive youth development

“…These programmes have tended to focus on the prevention of single problem behaviours (Damon, 2004) rather than considering the co-occurrence of at-risk behaviours in a single individual (Catalano et al, 2002). A growing body of literature suggests that risk prevention programmes, especially those targeting individual problem behaviours, do not necessarily promote successful outcomes or adaptive behaviours in young people (Allison, Edmonds, Wilson, Pope, & Farrell, 2011). Importantly, the focus on deficit views of young people inherent in risk prevention programmes has masked the potential of young people to contribute positively to their social worlds.…”

Fight Navigator: Exploring the Feasibility of a Retaliatory Violence Prevention Program to Help Youth Manage the Code of the Street

“…Consequently, if a program suggests dissolving protective, albeit questionably maladaptive, attitudes or behaviors to thwart violence, without offering contextually viable alternative responses it is unlikely youth will perceive such interventions as helpful (Barrett & Kallivayalil, 2015;Farrell et al, 2008;Frey, Pearson, & Cohen, 2015). Many researchers have noted that violence prevention programs with minimal consideration of cultural context (e.g., Allison, Edmonds, Wilson, Pope and Farrell, 2011;Barrett & Kallivayalil, 2015) or tailoring to individual youth's specific needs (e.g., Blake & Hamrin, 2007) often fail to yield behavioral change. Moreover, others have attempted to identify beliefs and perceptions that make youth more or less likely to engage in violent behavior (Bettencourt & Farrell, 2013;Leff et al, 2014;Stoddard, Zimmerman, & Bauermeister, 2012).…”

Mobilizing Communities to Implement Evidence‐Based Practices in Youth Violence Prevention: The State of the Art

“…In addition, recent community perspectives on positive youth development have supported a unifying framework that considers the outcomes of positive youth development within the context of relevant community conditions, capacity and strategies that increase supports and opportunities for youth. Allison et al (2011) use this framework for the discussion of their ACE's current community mobilization efforts. They describe the local community with respect to issues of youth violence (including local efforts to implement EBPs for youth violence prevention), and establish the historical context of the work of the Institute's research group.…”