At Prevention Institute, our vision is that all people experience their full potential for health, safety, and wellbeing across the life course through thriving, equitable communities. Safety allows people to thrive and live fulfilling lives—it is freedom from violence and the threat of violence. Our work addresses multiple forms of violence (e.g., school, community, intimate partner, sexual assault, and child abuse and exploitation) and the relationships between them.

Violence is preventable, not inevitable. There is a strong and growing evidence base, grounded in research and experiential practitioner and community evidence that supports this fact. Changing the underlying conditions that contribute to violence—in homes, schools, and neighborhoods—prevents violence from occurring in the first place.

Prevention Institute engages leaders from housing, healthcare, and multiple other sectors at the local, state, and national levels and cultivates a systems approach to prevention that reduces the need for criminal justice intervention. Recognizing violence as a crucial prevention issue for health and equity, Prevention Institute has made a major commitment to helping cities devise comprehensive plans and strategies for reducing and preventing multiple forms of violence. By cultivating communities of practice such as UNITY (Urban Networks to Increase Thriving Youth through Violence Prevention) and Safety Through Connection, supporting policy and systems change, and providing strong technical assistance, Prevention Institute catalyzes momentum for safety.

Safety > Content Buckets
Safety > Content Buckets
Safety > Content Buckets
Safety > Content Buckets

Utilizing The Spectrum of Prevention, this checklist provides a list of actions for the business sector to complete in aiding violence prevention efforts.

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This framing brief explores how violence affecting youth has been portrayed in the news, how the issue of race complicates depictions of youth and violence, and how public attitudes about government shape popular support for violence prevention. Written by Berkeley Media Studies Group and commissioned by Prevention Institute and UNITY.

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Provides a set of tools for city leaders to improve violence prevention strategies through effective, ongoing evaluation. Also provides information on available data sources.

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Connie Rice’s presentation to the UNITY National Corsortium make the case for incorporating a public health approach into violence prevention efforts. They also illustrate many ways that city and county government can provide structural and systematic support for a public health approach to violence prevention and specifically gang reduction.

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Read our recommendations for swift action and investments that will improve health and safety for all Californians. In this platform, we propose investments that promote equity, a healthy environment, and healthy people, and make the case that stimulus dollars should lift up communities that need it the most: communities of color and low-income communities with high rates of chronic illness, limited access to healthy food, disproportionately fewer opportunities for physical activity, and unequal access to safe parks, schools, and health resources. Download the document below for our full

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The Spectrum of Prevention is a systematic tool that promotes a multifaceted range of activities for effective prevention. The Spectrum identifies multiple levels of intervention and helps people move beyond the perception that prevention is merely education and serves as a framework for a more comprehensive understanding of prevention that includes six levels for strategy development.

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Join us in advancing health equity and community empowerment — get in touch today to support the Prevention Institute’s efforts.