Sharing Successes and Lessons about Youth Violence Reduction and Prevention to Build a Healthier Trenton
A few months ago, the Trenton Prevention Policy Board (TPPB) hosted the Youth Violence Prevention Symposium at The College of New Jersey. The symposium brought together community residents, nonprofit officials, law enforcement agencies, and other stakeholders from Mercer County and across the state to hear from a panel of regionally- and nationally-recognized experts in various fields related to youth violence, followed by a series of trainings and breakout groups for further learning and discussion. In addition to hearing about the work being done in the Capital City, participants explored potential strategies they could implement in their communities. TPPB’s goal for this symposium was to prepare for the implementation of a Youth Violence Reduction Action Strategy in Trenton by hosting experts from other cities, including Boston, MA, Cleveland, OH, and Camden, NJ, that have implemented similar strategies to foster youth development.
Access presentation materials from the symposium here
The Trenton Prevention Policy Board offers these details about the Youth Violence Reduction Action Strategy on its web site:
Building on the successful models of other similarly situated cities, we will implement a local strategic planning process that follows the model of the National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention. This model, developed as collaboration among cities and federal agencies in 2010, has provided transformative frameworks for struggling cities across the country to bring together key stakeholders to develop a shared vision and strategy to prevent and reduce youth violence. Combining data-driven analysis, the National Forum framework organizes work around four interrelated categories—prevention, intervention, enforcement, and reentry—to most effectively address youth violence at different points.
Part of our coalition’s work has been to create synergy among previously unaligned efforts in our community. By integrating the Trenton Prevention Policy Board’s work into our Blueprint for Action, public safety is being addressed as a health factor in the community. TPPB’s highly anticipated Youth Violence Reduction Strategy for Trenton is on the cusp of completion, and implementation is soon to be underway.
Learn more about TPPB and the Youth Violence Reduction Strategy, and connect with us for further updates and to partner in this work.