Cooperative Agreement Funds Public Health Departments for Five Years

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced today an award totaling $4.5 million to be divided among four public health departments that were selected to participate in a youth violence prevention demonstration project over a period of five years. The funding is part of CDC’s national Striving To Reduce Youth Violence Everywhere (STRYVE) initiative and will help develop, expand, and enhance youth violence prevention efforts in Boston, Massachusetts; Houston, Texas; Portland, Oregon; and Salinas, California.

In the United States, youth violence is a significant public health problem. Homicide is the second leading cause of death of young people, with an average of 16 youth victims each day. Approximately 20 percent of high school students report being bullied at school and more than 30 percent of high school students report being in a physical fight according to a CDC national survey. More than 619,000 young people ages 10 to 24 were treated in emergency departments for injuries sustained from violence in 2009.

But youth violence is preventable, not inevitable. The purpose of the “STRYVE Through Local Public Health Leadership” cooperative agreement is to increase the capacity of the public health departments in high-risk communities and their coalition partners to prevent youth violence before it even starts.  These coalitions will emphasize collaboration across multiple disciplines, including justice, education, labor, social services, public health and safety, as well as community-based non-profit organizations and local businesses. CDC will provide training and expert technical assistance to the funded public health departments and their partners to strategically plan and implement comprehensive youth violence prevention strategies that are based on the best available evidence.

Some of the assistance provided to the grantees is also available to other communities interested in understanding and acting to prevent youth violence.  STRYVE Online (www.SafeYouth.gov) provides training, access to cutting-edge research, and examples of successful prevention efforts in communities across the country that may be replicated by others. Through STRYVE Online, CDC provides guidance on actions that communities can take to strategically plan, select, implement, and evaluate youth violence prevention approaches that are based on the best available evidence.

More Information
Learn more about CDC’s STRYVE initiative at www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/STRYVE
Visit STRYVE Online at www.safeyouth.gov
Learn more about violence prevention at CDC at www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention

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