Adverse community experiences – such as concentrated poverty, segregation from opportunity, and community violence – contribute to community trauma, which can exacerbate adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). This brief explains the relationship between ACEs and adverse community experiences, thus making the case for focusing on preventing and addressing trauma at the community level, in addition to the growing focus on individual trauma. It also provides examples of emerging strategies to address community trauma and build community resilience.

Community violence interferes with young children’s attainment of key competencies — cognitive, sensory, muscular, emotional, social and behavioral — and compromises the capabilities of caregivers to provide supportive environments for their children. However, communities provide the conditions in which people can live free from fear of violence and harm from violence; they support opportunities for active learning and optimal growth in the early years. This fact sheet highlights the research on the relationship between community safety and positive early childhood development. Further, it

In recognition of the dramatically shifting national landscape, and with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Kaiser Permanente Community Benefit, nearly 25 leaders in community violence prevention gathered to strategize about where we go from here – for cities and counties, and as a network and movement – in support of safer communities. The meeting’s dialogue and outcomes underscore the value of speaking truth to power. While the meeting leveraged relationships forged through Prevention Institute’s UNITY City Network, the key themes and directions highlight the state of

This report offers research, analysis, frameworks, and practitioner wisdom to understand the factors in the community environment that support safe relationships and a reduction in domestic violence (DV). It identifies opportunities for 13 sectors to engage in DV prevention, and offers a method for multiple sectors to identify joint strengths, strategies, and outcomes. The paper presents an overarching approach to advancing a health equity and multisector approach to DV prevention, and identifies broad elements and immediate next steps to move this approach forward.

Time and again, we are heartbroken by the news of another mass shooting. Part of our healing must be the conviction that we will do everything in our power to keep these tragedies from happening in a nation that continues to face a pandemic of gun violence. It's not only the high-profile mass shootings that we must work to prevent, but also the daily death-by-guns that claims more than 30,000 lives every year. Our recommendations for preventing gun violence begin with attention to reducing immediate risks related to guns, broaden to address the underlying contributors to gun violence, and then address the prevention infrastructure necessary to ensure effectiveness. We also include recommendations related to new frontiers for research and practice, to ensure that we continue to learn, innovate, and increase our impact over time.

The community development sector invests over $200 billion per year in neighborhoods across the U.S. with low and moderate average household incomes. Do you know what this sector does and how to engage it in ensuring these investments make communities safer and improve outcomes for young children and families? This slidedeck accompanied an August 26, 2016 webinar facilitated by Prevention Institute and the Center for the Study of Social Policy. It featured guest presenters from Build Healthy Places Network (BHPN), including: Colby Dailey, Managing Director, Build Healthy Places Network and