Comprehensive Community Violence Prevention Strategy (CCVPS)

NIA will soon accept The Comprehensive Community Violence Prevention Strategy (CCVPS) as a developing project. 

The project STRYVE is an acronym that stands for Striving to Reduce Youth Violence Everywhere. It originated in Oregon and was adopted for 5 years. It was then re-established by a Non-Profit based in North Carolina. NIA will undertake this strategy as one of our economic empowerment projects.

Please keep in mind, because this plan is comprehensive, there are multiple components to it. In its entirety, this project aims to bring a public health, preventative approach to work on youth violence.

Research established that multiple forms of violence intersect with each other, and exhibit shared risk and protective factors. The CDC quotes Deborah Prothrow-Stith, MD, an Adjunct Professor at Harvard School of Public Health; she states, “Gang violence is connected to bullying, is connected to school violence, is connected to intimate partner violence, is connected to child abuse, is connected to elder abuse. It’s all connected” (CDC).

Violence is a leading cause of injury and death among marginalized communities. It has also been connected to poor health outcomes such as depression, anxiety, and diabetes, as well as high-risk behaviors such as drug and alcohol abuse and unhealthy intimate relationships. Therefore, violence is a public health crisis.

Another component within this comprehensive strategy is the acknowledgment of racism as being within that public health crises. Racism cultivates and breeds an unacknowledged level of toxic insecurity that is perpetuated via laws, social norms, and regulations that diminish opportunities for marginalized populations.