Colo. Department of Public Health and Environment receive violence prevention grant

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently awarded the Prevention Services Division of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment $343,453 annually for three years to enhance Colorado's capacity to address child and adolescent health through violence prevention.

Shannon Breitzman, director of the Injury, Suicide and Violence Prevention Unit that will oversee the grant, said the project is based on a plan to reduce youth violence by addressing the risk factors that have an effect on multiple types of violence.

"Bold Steps toward Child and Adolescent Health: A Plan for Youth Violence Prevention in Colorado," is available at www.cdphe.state.co.us/ps/YVPP/index.html. A core component of the plan is to use the strengths of young people in prevention efforts, and to implement programs and strategies that focus on positive youth development.

The CDC grant will allow the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to prioritize integrated prevention strategies to effectively reduce violence in Colorado.

Three communities, to be identified by March, will pilot recommendations of the plan. Communities will be identified based on elevated rates of child and adolescent violence, a high presence of risk factor indicators, a lack of protective factor indicators and a readiness to implement violence prevention initiatives. Pilot communities will implement community-level recommendations of the strategic plan in an effort to have an impact on child and adolescent violence communitywide.

Pilot communities also will allow the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to enhance community and political support for integrated prevention approaches, ultimately contributing to statewide reductions in all forms of child and adolescent violence.

For more information, contact the Injury, Suicide and Violence Prevention Unit at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment at (303) 692-2609.