Thank you for participating in our recent Special Results Minneapolis roundtable conversation on youth violence prevention. A roundtable meeting presents a unique opportunity for City staff, leadership, elected officials, and stakeholders from outside agencies and organizations to engage in robust discussions. The Youth Violence Prevention Special Report presented by the Minneapolis Health Department focused their data driven approach on identifying trends and opportunities to reduce youth violence. From the roundtable discussion, three interrelated themes emerged. To reduce youth violence, it requires targeted youth intervention, support for their families, and increased collaboration and better alignment of Minneapolis resources. The following …show more content…
Youth violence can be reduced or even prevented if counselors and community health workers can locate at-risk youth. Unfortunately, it is not always clear who is at-risk. A child who experienced a traumatic incident may not immediately show signs of needing therapy. Nevertheless, the youth’s trauma, gone unnoticed, can fester and eventually be the catalyst of a violent event. Street-based outreach programs have been successful in finding youth who need support. These programs have also enabled at-risk youth to help their peers. For instance, the Youth Congress allows adolescence to collaborate on how to address violence in their circles. Youth are no longer the problem; they are the solution. Potential action steps the City could take: • City and non-City agencies need to spend time evaluating how they are reaching at-risk youth, as well as measuring the effectiveness of their work. • The City needs to continue to support and expand successful street-based engagement. Theme: Families Need Support Overcoming Generational …show more content…
Since 2005, Minneapolis has experienced an overall decline in youth violence incidents. There are many reasons for the decline, but the City has done little to advertise this success. The City should design case studies to condense this data and the complex issue into a clear and sharable public document. The value of illustrating the data in this way is that it can shift the public’s perception of youth violence to reflect reality. Potential action steps the City could take: • Develop case studies to make youth violence data easily accessible to the general public to shift public perception. D). The Minneapolis community is fortunate to have many partners in reducing youth violence. However, during the roundtable, the point was raised that Minneapolis is “resources rich, but access poor.” This means that despite the many programs to counter youth violence, it can be challenging for families and youth to utilize them. To mend this issue, the City and its partners should increase collaboration, and evaluate current efforts. The questions should be asked: are the resources and services currently provided what the community needs, wants, and what are the barriers to accessing them? Potential action steps the City could take: • The City and its partners need to collaborate and share resources to design a deeper and more comprehensive support network for Minneapolis youth and