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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

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.

Direct experience as well as exposure to multiple forms of violence can have a compounding negative impact on children’s development. Despite the strong relationship, the fields of practice addressing different forms of violence have largely been silo-ed. This brief summarizes five connections between child maltreatment, intimate partner violence, and community violence and makes the case for an integrated movement for safety in our homes and communities. It draws on recent research and analysis on the linkages between multiple forms of violence and offers examples of emerging actions to address the linkages.

Prevention Institute and Futures Without Violence partnered to develop this paper to inform the Defending Childhood Initiative, a first of its kind initiative to address children’s exposure to violence, as well as similar efforts that are underway around the country that have a goal of improving outcomes for children and youth. A Good Solution Solves Multiple Problems: Exploring Prevention Strategies that Address Multiple Forms of Violence lays out the connections among child abuse, intimate partner violence, and community violence. It focuses on the interrelationships among forms of violence, the expertise that practitioners working on different fields bring to a shared solution, the importance of community-driven strategies, and the imperative to move beyond silos and take action.