Forum on Youth Violence Prevention

The Forum's first stage involved assessment and plan development. At this stage, the Forum's goals focused on the development of comprehensive plans that reflect the core values of the Forum:

• Multi-Disciplinary Partnerships: e.g. law enforcement, education, public health, community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, business and philanthropic communities
• Balanced Approaches: prevention, intervention, enforcement, and reentry
• Data-Driven Strategies: necessary to pool data from a variety of sources to provide comprehensive picture and to have  objective means of measuring progress

In the short term, preparation of these plans intended to lead to:

• More active partnerships,
• Improved coordination and focus of resources, and
• Better use of data

This should occur at local and federal levels.

In the medium term, exposure of these plans should lead to improved ability to secure funding from a variety of resources (federal, state, local, private) for anti-youth violence efforts, and to accomplish short-term goals.

In the long term, implementation of plans should eventually

• Reduce violence among youth
• Improve opportunities for positive youth development
• Enhance public safety and quality of life
• Encourage innovation, e.g. explore ways to better coordinate funding, policy, and regulation at local and federal levels

Activities:

The Forum, a network of localities and federal agencies, serves as a means of

• Sharing information about what works (and what doesn't);
• Delivering technical assistance, including peer-to-peer learning;
• Coordinating federal resources around local plans;
• Examining federal regulation and policy as applied to local youth violence prevention efforts,  and
• Providing exposure for local efforts to help compete for funding.