NCJ Number
245613
Date Published
December 2012
Length
47 pages
Annotation
This report presents the results of an assessment of the strategies employed by the first group of cities participating in the National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention.
Abstract
The Forum is a White House inspired, locally coordinated effort aimed at strengthening youth violence prevention effort in selected cities in the United States. The first six cities to participate in the Forum were Boston, Detroit, Memphis, Salinas, San Jose, and Chicago, however, Chicago's level of effort was not sufficient to allow their participation in the survey. The first round of surveys was conducted with Boston, Detroit, Memphis, Salinas, and San Jose in June 2011, with two more rounds of surveys occurring in February and August 2012 for the four cities that joined the Forum by 2012. The four new cities were Camden (NJ), Minneapolis, New Orleans, and Philadelphia. The surveys' findings include the following: while changes were slow to come to the cities due to the complexity of violence reduction initiatives, respondents reported improved law enforcement effectiveness, better access to family services and opportunities for youth, and more support for violence prevention from local officials; and the subsequent rounds of surveys found that cities were less likely to report increased levels of particular forms of violence in the community as well as decreased levels of gang violence along with improvements in their efforts to stem youth violence. These findings suggest that the National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention may be effective in improving cities' efforts at reducing youth violence and creating better partnerships across communities to work together to fight the problem of youth violence. Tables, figures, and appendixes