UNITY Updates

New Injury Report Calls for Community Solutions to Violence 
Minneapolis, Oakland and San Diego are among the UNITY cities featured in an injury prevention report released by Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The authors describe violence as an issue that requires partnerships across many sectors, and community-wide solutions that extend beyond treating injured individuals after the fact. The report recommends preventing violence before it occurs through a public health approach, and it includes the UNITY Policy Platform on page 44. Read the City Voices and Perspectives publication series for more on what is working in UNITY cities.

  

Community Profiles: A Focus on Health Equity
Looking for ideas on how to promote health equity in your work? The Communities Taking Action profiles showcase local initiatives that focus on social justice, even as they address pressing health issues such as violence. Browse more than 100 community profiles in this online database for ways to keep all young people safe and healthy; click on “Preventing Violence” under the General Description search category. For more on violence as a health equity issue, see this popular UNITY Fact Sheet. 

  

UNITY in the News
--Tri-Caucus and UNITY Congressional Briefing, 4/27: The National League of Cities blog covered the April 2012 Congressional briefing on preventing violence, co-sponsored by the Congressional Tri-Caucus and UNITY. The blog post refers to Minneapolis’s Blueprint for Action and Safe Streets Baltimore, both of which were featured at the briefing. “The good news is that some cities are making substantial progress,” wrote Michael Karpman. “Local leaders are treating and combating violence as a preventable disease.” 
--Preventing Violence in Portland, Ore.: Read this Lund Report blog post about efforts to prevent violence in Portland, Ore., which features STRYVE Coordinator Rebecca Stavenjord of the Multnomah County Health Department and includes quotes by Marci Hertz of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and UNITY Project Director Rachel Davis. The post emphasizes the links between violence and health, and it describes the role of the health department in bringing together schools, community groups and other sectors. The Multnomah County Health Department is funded by CDC through STRYVE, Striving to Reduce Youth Violence Everywhere. 

  

Where is UNITY in June 2012?
--6/1, Lafayette, La.: Louisiana Medical Association State Meeting, 10:30 to 11:15 a.m. UNITY Co-Chair Deborah Prothrow-Stith presents on preventing violence and injury before it happens.
--6/27, Charlotte, N.C.: Innovations in Community Prevention panel, APHA Mid-Year Meeting, 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Cleveland Public Health Director Karen Butler will share efforts to prevent violence in Cleveland and discuss why addressing violence using a place-based, public health approach will advance health equity. Cleveland is a member of the UNITY City Network, and the American Public Health Association is a UNITY partner.