Cities with greater collaboration among multiple sectors also have lower rates of violence, but collaboration can be challenging. To help violence prevention practitioners step up their game as they work to engage partners from diverse sectors and disciplines, UNITY utilized Prevention Institute’s Collaboration Multiplier tool, adding in-depth information about specific sectors and on-the-ground examples.
A Multi-Sector Approach to Preventing Violence outlines the benefits and challenges of collaborating across various fields, and highlights a joint effort in Houston to illustrate how the Collaboration Multiplier tool can help. It features information about various public sectors and offers a glimpse into how public health, youth-serving groups, workforce development, public works and others can come together to prevent violence. Collaboration Multiplier has a long track record of success, and Prevention Institute has used it to facilitate diverse groups for more than a decade.
“Collaborating to change the environment and make safer places really resonated with our partners,” said Sheila Savannah of the Houston Health and Human Services Department. “Every partner has a different ‘What’s in it for me?’ that needs to be discovered. Collaboration Multiplier is a good tool because it stops to ask, ‘What are the strengths of every partner? What does the partner need? And what are you bringing to the table?’”
Developed with funding from The Kresge Foundation, this publication is a companion document for a full-length guide, coming soon, that clarifies the roles and contributions of 10 sectors and 12 municipal departments. Complete with workbook activities and case examples, Multi-Sector Partnerships for Preventing Violence reflects the best thinking of 40 practitioners in 14 large U.S. cities and counties, including many UNITY cities. The UNITY team designed this guide so you could replicate this process and improve safety outcomes for your community. Try out the beta version and get started today. Review the Table of Contents and email unity@preventioninstitute.org to request a chapter or section.
UNITY is a Prevention Institute initiative that has been funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, The Kresge Foundation and The California Wellness Foundation (TCWF). Created in 1992 as an independent, private foundation, TCWF’s mission is to improve the health and people of California by making grants for health promotion, wellness, education, and disease prevention programs.