Violence is a leading cause of death for youths aged 10 to 24 years in the United States.1 Consequently, violence among youths presents urgent challenges for communities. To address these, it can help to interrogate researchers’ understanding of interpersonal violence and how it influences the levers of change we identify when developing community-level violence-prevention strategies. In practice, this requires a shift in focus, from the individual behaviors traditionally recognized as violence to the social and structural determinants underlying interpersonal violence.2,3 Youth voices critically inform this process. In addition to assessing the youth perspective, it is vital to meaningfully engage youths in violence prevention and evaluate such efforts.
For 20 years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Youth Violence Prevention Centers (YVPCs; https://bit.ly/36WRDgU) have engaged in academic–community collaborations for youth violence prevention. Currently focused on community-level strategies, these efforts have benefitted from youths who are from communities affected by violence. As they work alongside researchers as well as community, government and business leaders, YVPC-engaged youths provide expertise derived from their lived experience and other skillsets to develop violence-prevention strategies. They have been instrumental in shifting narratives about violence, leading equitable youth engagement, and influencing power entities to protect and uplift their communities.
This editorial is coauthored by YVPC-engaged youths (aged 14–26 years) alongside academic and CDC researchers. Citations are included only for readers’ reference, as YVPC-engaged youth perspectives are the main feature. From this point onward, YVPC-engaged youth coauthors speak to us in the first person.
Engaging with the YVPCs has expanded our understanding of the hidden roots of violence dominating the narratives in our communities—for example, how a history of racism and inequity is linked to unequal community rates of violence. This has transformed how we think about and define violence. Some of us understood the role of structural factors from the get-go. And for others our violence definition changed drastically—from being only interpersonal, direct, and visible to also encompassing systemic, invisible, and long-term harmful policies and practices.
Describing structural violence, one of our coauthors explains: Violence comes in many forms and those forms aren’t always physical. The act of passing policies that will directly or indirectly harm an entire community is violence, living in a food desert is violence, not having a place to peacefully dwell is violence, over-saturation of drugs and liquor stores in one’s community is violence, having slurs or harsh language hurled at you is violence, not having positive depictions of one’s race in the history books or media is also violence.
These root causes and risk factors that increase our exposure to interpersonal violence are also a form of violence against youths.4 When we recognize violence against our communities as a form of violence against youths, we are better able to understand the link between structural and interpersonal violence. Through our YVPC work, we have had the opportunity to raise consciousness about this in our communities and to reframe narratives to focus on root causes.
Structural discrimination against a group can create social norms that drive violence.5 Although extremely aware of this, we are often so blinded by interpersonal violence that we cannot see the root causes at play in our own backyards. We—Black and Brown youths—have come to expect our communities to endure violence. This influences our identity and norms of what is required of us to exist in such environments.
Generally, youths like us understand that violence does not solve conflict; it only makes it worse. Yet, we may feel the need to resort to violence to prove—and protect—ourselves. If you are truly interested in violence prevention, you must listen to us and consider this reality. Are you challenging policies and practices that create toxic environments in which we feel we have no choice but to engage in violence to survive?
Youth voices are direct and illuminate the incongruity of many well-intended violence-prevention approaches that we find inadequate. How can you allow structural and systemic injustice to persist in our environments—robbing us of our peers, exposing us to trauma, isolating us in fiscally deprived communities—and then suggest that interpersonal violence is a problem catalyzed by youths? It is our transformative consciousness that leads us youths to meaningful community engagement—and that is an essential component of strategic violence-prevention efforts.6 We can help connect the dots.
Incorporating youths’ intellect, experience, and consciousness into efforts to create meaningful change is challenging. After all, we are used to having little say or involvement in policies that directly affect us. And if we are at the table, our engagement can vary greatly from place to place. For instance, although we are all YVPC-engaged youths, our experiences are not exactly alike. Some of us are youth volunteers; others are staff. Some serve as expert youth advisers; others have been deeply involved from day one. Looking back, there are a few things that could help any youth violence–prevention effort ensure meaningful, equitable youth engagement.
First, meaningful engagement means youths must be partners.7 We do not want to be treated like an experiment. We want to be part of the process, not be used for it. Meet us where we are; respect our needs. For example, providing financial compensation to facilitate our long-term commitment in these efforts can help us truly feel empowered to create change. Youths will be able to engage more fully if we remove structurally marginalizing practices that make it more difficult than it already is.
It is also important to recognize the stress that violence-prevention work places on us. For us, this work is not theoretical—it is real, personal. As one of our coauthors explained: You must be aware that some of the issues you learn about will start being less disguised in accordance with your daily life. Physically, this work can make you sick. It can make you want to crawl in a corner and never come out. This work will make you laugh, cry, get angry, feel hopeful, feel hopeless, and experience many other emotions.
Looking at your community and peers through a different lens can be very uncomfortable. Plan to have resources and support systems ready to help us process such a reality. When communities and organizations take steps to ensure meaningful youth engagement, youths co-lead change.
By recognizing our power and ability to catalyze change, we can make change happen in our communities. For example, we and other YVPC-engaged youths have organized to successfully prevent community school closures, protested to prevent additional liquor sales in our community, participated in data collection, and created award-winning violence-prevention ads. Some of us are developing new models to address deficits in the approaches communities take for youth engagement, allowing youths to have more control over their voices and how they are used in the process.
We have achieved these feats through our YVPC work, becoming leaders in our communities. We are passionately engaged in this work, hoping to demonstrate what many of us already know: Youths have a voice. Youths have power. Youths have purpose. Adults removing barriers to us knowing this and amplifying our voices is how we prevent violence against and among youths.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funded the work of the Youth Violence Prevention Centers (YVPCs) with which the coauthors are affiliated (U01-CE-002711 to University of Louisville; U01-CE-002712 to University of Chicago; U01-CE-002757 to University of Colorado Boulder; U01-CE-002766 to Virginia Commonwealth University).
The authors thank the following individuals for their support to G. Jones Jr in coordinating the participation of YVPC-engaged youth as coauthors in this piece: Ashley D’Inverno, PhD, MA, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, CDC; David Bechhoefer and Dane Washington, Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, University of Colorado Boulder; Franklin Cosey-Gay, PhD, MPH, Chicago Center for Youth Violence Prevention, University of Chicago; and Torey Edmonds, Clark-Hill Institute for Positive Youth Development, Virginia Commonwealth University.
Note. The findings and conclusions in this editorial are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the CDC.
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
The authors declare they have no conflicts of interest.
