Since its inception in 2005, Urban Networks to Increase Thriving Youth (UNITY) has built support for effective, sustainable efforts to prevent violence before it occurs, so that urban youth can thrive in safe environments with supportive relationships and opportunities for success. UNITY promotes collaboration across the public and private sectors to maximize resources, ensure sustainability, and encourage effectiveness. To accomplish these outcomes, UNITY works intensively with a select group of the nation's largest cities through the UNITY City Network, as well as providing capacity building support more broadly for practitioners and decision makers across the country through trainings and consultation, advocacy, and tools/materials development. From partnerships including the National League of Cities and the National Association of County and City Health Officials, and through the creation and dissemination of materials including the UNITY RoadMap, A Guidebook to Strategy Evaluation: Evaluating Your City's Approach to Community Safety and Youth Violence Prevention and Moving From Them to Us: Challenges in Reframing Violence Among Youth, UNITY has begun to shift national strategies for preventing violence. Prevention Institute is the lead partner in UNITY, a partnership that includes Harvard School of Public Health and the UCLA School of Public Health Southern California Injury Prevention Research Center (SCIPRC).
To learn more, read An Overview of Outcomes, Findings & Recommendations from the First 5 Years of UNITY.
Overview of the UNITY InitiativeUNITY's activities support cities in preventing violence, and articulate a broader strategy for preventing violence across the nation. We have conducted an assessment of what UNITY cities already have in place to prevent violence, and of what they need to be most effective. We have delineated the elements of what works to prevent violence in a RoadMap and have identified tools to help cities implement an effective and sustainable approach. To assist them in undertaking these efforts, we provide training and technical assistance via internet, phone and in person. With the help of City representatives, we have also identified the elements of a national platform to prevent violence in urban areas before it occurs.
