Stories

Building a Prevention Coalition in Rural Oregon

More than 30 local agencies, organizations, and businesses make up the UP2USNow Child Abuse Prevention Coalition in rural Oregon. Coalition members and partners are influential in the community, and represent the residents of Douglas County. UP2USNow has also made a point to regularly partner with youth to advance its cause. For example, the coalition sponsors the Youth Media Project, which trains students on prevention, messaging, and video production. To raise awareness about preventing child abuse, the young people interview coalition partners and community members about their work, and create public service announcements and videos that are shared online and aired on local television.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, https://www.cdc.gov/child-abuse-neglect/communication-resources/efc-building-community-commitment.pdf

Colorado's Approach to Collecting Data on Underserved Populations

The Colorado state prevention team collected original data and conducted key informal interviews and focus groups with several communities of color to be inclusive of various experiences and perspectives. Throughout the needs and resource assessment, information regarding historically underserved populations was highlighted. This information guided the prevention team in developing a state sexual violence prevention plan that prioritizes prevention initiatives in communities of color and seeks to adapt and implement prevention programming that is culturally relevant.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/49184

Integrating Prevention Science and Community Insight in Portland, OR

The first task of the Portland STRYVE project was to create a forum where the science of prevention could be combined with community insight. “We wanted to create a space where everyone’s expertise was valued, whether that be professional, academic, lived experience, or otherwise,” STRYVE Coordinator Rebecca Stavenjord said. Two part-time community health workers were hired and trained to educate and promote individual and community needs, serve as a liaison between communities and the health care and social service systems, and help make health education and information more accessible to residents. Stavenjord said that community health workers have been crucial in Portland STRYVE’s ability to fully involve community members and under-represented groups in youth violence prevention efforts.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, https://vetoviolence.cdc.gov/apps/stryve/grantee-profiles#portland

Oregon's Use of Partnerships to Prevent Child Abuse and Neglect

The Oregon Health Authority and the Department of Human Services bring together child fatality review teams from across the state to identify trends and work together on prevention strategies. Many different types of partners work to increase family stability and child safety by integrating mental health and addiction, housing, and employment services and other systems. These joint efforts in Oregon have resulted in:

• A coordinated child fatality data collection and reporting system that uses surveillance data from outside the child welfare system.
• Improved partnerships with drug and alcohol treatment providers and efforts to expand family-based treatment.
• Co-location of domestic violence advocates in the state’s child welfare and self-sufficiency offices. After working with an advocate, clients were more likely to access services provided by the health department’s offices.

Source: Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, https://www.astho.org/Prevention/Essentials-for-Childhood-Policy-Guide/

Selecting Prevention Strategies in Los Angeles County

One of the goals of First 5 LA is to ensure that children are safe from abuse and neglect. When deciding on priority strategies to meet this goal for Los Angeles County, First 5 LA included feasibility and timeliness in its selection criteria. First 5 LA assessed each strategy’s potential benefit for children and families in general, but it also examined how the potential strategies would increase safety specifically, analyzed the likelihood for success, and considered current windows of opportunity for action.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, https://www.cdc.gov/child-abuse-neglect/communication-resources/efc-building-community-commitment.pdf

Strengthening the plan to prevent youth violence in Salinas, CA

The Community Alliance for Safety and Peace (CASP) is an existing coalition made up of more than 30 organizations dedicated to gang reduction in Salinas. Through CDC’s STRYVE, public health leaders were able to add their voice to the mix. “We had not really been at the table. …So we had to demonstrate that the public health department had a certain skill set that would be of value,” STRYVE Coordinator Linda McGlone said. Salinas STRYVE offered CASP resources and a step-by-step process to strengthen the coalition’s existing plan, and helped them choose a focus area and strategies based on the best available evidence. CASP now has a framework for planning, pilot testing, evaluating, and sustaining youth violence prevention efforts.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, https://vetoviolence.cdc.gov/apps/stryve/grantee-profiles#salinas