With support from The Langeloth Foundation, Prevention Institute is advancing community safety through racial justice and health equity. Through partnerships with national gun violence prevention networks, Black-, Indigenous-, and People of Color-led organizations, public health departments and associations, and networks of young leaders, Prevention Institute is building power for community safety, with a focus on racial and gender justice policies and practices. Prevention Institute will advance policies and practices that embed equity in local and national solutions, articulate the metrics that drive accountability of government to communities, and inform a growing national movement for community safety through justice and equity.
Strategies and activities include:
- Build new and shared knowledge and actions across partner organizations and networks (e.g., joint campaigns and cross-participation in campaigns) to reduce investment in criminal justice system strategies, increase investment in public health strategies, and use metrics to track transparency and accountability.
- Co-create and disseminate multimedia materials in partnership with community leaders to support practice, reframe issues, inform decisionmakers, and build public and political will (e.g., podcasts, videos, briefs, profiles, op-eds, media outreach, etc.)
- Provide education to decisionmakers, practitioners, and the media through Peer Learning Forums, multimedia materials, technical assistance and coaching, policy briefings, and other mechanisms.
Through the success of our efforts, the gun violence prevention movement will be a more cohesive and powerful movement with platforms and campaigns led by Black-, Indigenous-, and People of Color-led organizations and young organizers. Locales and states will leverage public health infrastructure and implement policies and practices that center equity and justice. Local and national efforts will be connected in support of a common agenda of safe and equitable communities. Communities will continuously evaluate their progress and adapt their strategies based on the data, including qualitative methods and decision-driving community input. Locales will use robust evaluation to track effectiveness of investments and demonstrate accountability to communities.
This work builds on our previous work to elevate a public health approach to preventing violence (2018-2020), also supported by The Langeloth Foundation.
Photo of the Solidarity Mural by the City of Dubuque, Iowa.