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

Abstract #71191

Isami Arifuku, D Crim, National Center on Crime and Delinquency, 1970 Broadway Suite 500, Oakland, CA 94612, 510 208-0500 ext. 333, iarifuku@sf.nccd-crc.org

The Asian Pacific Islander Youth Violence Prevention Center (API Center) is a collaboration between the University of Hawaii at Manoa and the National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD), a nonprofit agency focusing upon research on juvenile justice. The need for the API Center was documented through the use of local, state, and Federal crime data that showed an increasing trend among API youth, particularly among females, and specific ethnicities within the API grouping. Aggregating Asians and Pacific Islanders resulted in low average numbers of arrests compared to other racial groups and obscured the differential arrest rates of several ethnicities that had the highest levels.

The community mobilization portion of the Center’s work is a data-driven, research-based planning process involving not municipal, county and state officials in government agencies (e.g. health, education, law enforcement, juvenile justice), but also including community members that oftentimes are not included or choose not to participate. Oftentimes, these are members of the API ethnicities that are overrepresented in crime statistics, school suspensions and school dropout.

Accomplishments to date include the collection and accessibility of data describing the community-level demographics and indicators in education, juvenile justice, health, and funding resources. Initial reports are being disseminated for community response (particularly from youth). Discussion is continuing on using the information to address the needs of API youth, crime, and violence.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to:
• Understand the importance of disaggregating data to identify trends.
• Understand the importance of including the members of the community who are the focus of mobilization.

Keywords: Youth Violence, Community Participation

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.