The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #70495

Candice E. Jackson, MPA, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division of Violence Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Hwy., NE, MS K-60, Atlanta, GA 30341-3724, 770-488-1571, cej1@cdc.gov and D. Michele Hoover, MS, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Division of Violence Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Highway NE, MS K-60, Atlanta, GA 30341.

The Division of Violence Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Prevention and Control, funded ten National Academic Centers for Excellence in Youth Violence Prevention (ACE) in September of 2000. This initiative, led by Senator Arlen Specter was established to help better understand youth violence, as well translate research into effective prevention practices designed to prevent and reduce youth violence in communities. The Centers represent a new and rapidly evolving approach to translating research into practice by seeking to forge partnerships between universities and communities. The Centers have six core objectives to: 1) provide the infrastructure for and conduct interdisciplinary research relevant to youth violence; 2) support the surveillance of youth violence in their specific communities; 3) conduct innovative and relevant etiological work on risk and protective factors in youth violence; 4) develop, test, and more broadly implement effective violence prevention strategies; 5) offer mentoring and training initiatives to prepare professionals from varying backgrounds to address the issue of youth violence; and 6) create partnerships with communities to develop plans to address youth violence. Five Comprehensive and five Developing Centers were funded. The Comprehensive Centers were funded based upon their past experience in surveillance; etiological research; designing, implementing, and evaluating on-going youth violence prevention programs. The Developing Centers were funded based upon their capacity to accomplish the aforementioned goals and objectives but were not required to have substantial previous experience in developing, evaluating, and disseminating violence prevention programs though some of the developing centers have experience and expertise in these areas.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of this session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to:
• Recognize youth violence as an urgent public health problem.
• Understand the purpose, mission, and goals of the National Academic Centers of Excellence on Youth Violence.
• Learn ways to involve communities in collaborative efforts to become involved in the research and intervention process.

Keywords: Youth Violence, Research

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.