Youth Violence Project

The Youth Violence Project (YVP) is supported by the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia. YVP has three primary goals: (1) to identify effective methods and policies for preventing and responding to youth violence, especially in school settings; (2) to provide education and training on youth violence and aggression for educators, psychologists, and other colleagues in the social, legal, and human services professions; and (3) to conduct and disseminate research on the understanding and reduction of violent behavior in youth. YVP does not work with youth directly but funds several projects that work with youth.

For example, YVP is collaborating with Virginia Commonwealth University on the Youth Gang Project, which works with Virginia communities with identified gang problems. The project trains community members in violence prevention, conducts needs assessments, assists in program development, and funds local community grants to nonprofit organizations focusing on gang prevention. One program is the United Neighborhoods Project, which brings rival gang members from Arlington and Fairfax, VA, together in an effort to reduce intergang conflict, graffiti, and violence, and to encourage community service. Another is the Gang Prevention Through Targeted Outreach program of the Newport News Boys & Girls Club, which offers club membership to youth referred by the courts, schools, or police, or identified through targeted outreach efforts.

Contact information:

Dewey Cornell
University of Virginia
405 Emmet Street
Charlottesville, VA 22903
804­924­0793

Promising Strategies to Reduce Gun Violence	OJJDP Report