|
|
Featured VPI Events
MCW-VPI and Community Partners Host Summit to Engage Milwaukee Teens in Brainstorming to Reduce Gun Violence - Coming Together November 14th, 2013
275 youth and community leaders from across Milwaukee convened at "Coming Together" to launch a community-driven effort to address gun violence. The daylong summit was organized by MCW's Violence Prevention Initiative, in collaboration with Community Advocates' Milwaukee Brighter Futures Initiative, the City of Milwaukee - Health Department's Office of Violence Prevention, Children's Hospital of Wisconsin's Project Ujima and UWM's Center for Urban Initiatives and Research."Coming Together" organizers, led by UWM's CUIR and MCW's VPI, conducted a pre-summit pilot survey of 168 youth participants from nine community organizations to better understand youths' perceptions and experiences related to guns and gun violence. Preliminary findings were shared during the summit and used to catalyze discussion throughout the day. Afternoon sessions also included a youth focused strategic brainstorming session targeting root causes of gun violence and an adult focused presentation on the impact of trauma. For more information, please contact the VPI Community Office or click here for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's coverage of the event. 
1st Annual Chain of Dreams Intergenerational Symposium - November 19th, 2013The Milwaukee County Department of Aging in partnership with the MCW Violence Prevention Initiative presented the "Chain of Dreams" Intergenerational Symposium. The symposium provided an opportunity to explore and address the breakdown of communication and lack of trust amongst youth and older adults.  The Symposium hosted over 300 participants with a representation of seniors and youth from various schools and community organizations that serve both populations.  Symposium attendees participated in several breakout sessions that served as a foundation for creating a dialogue amongst the generations such as What It Means to Be You and Me Appropriately, and Connecting the Digital Divide. Ann Bria, MCW-VPI and Paul Dedinsky, JD, PhD. Assistant District Attorney, Milwaukee County, explored and presented different generational traits, values, and influences that shape the behavior of older adults and youth. Participants learned techniques and approaches to resolve generational conflict, embrace generational values, and build positive, long lasting relationships amongst generations through a fun interactive session. The lunchtime entertainment of Sophia's Chorus & Dance Troupe and the Milwaukee County Golden Idols brought down the house with their talent and energy along with other featured performers from the community!  Milwaukee Public Schools Restorative Justice Coordinator and Milwaukee County DA Paul Dedinsky J.D., PhD facilitated the Symposium attendees in the Restorative Peacemaking circle philosophy and practice. Adrian D. Thomas, Senior Program Manager of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee closed the Symposium unifying the generations in using the latest technology to complete the Symposium evaluation, and the closing comments of Adrian reminded all of wisdom learned from the older generation that helps sustain and foster change for the younger generations. Adrian shared life lessons learned from his Grandmother in which he applies in his efforts in serving the community, reminding us all of our responsibility to continue to pass along the values of kindness and compassion in the community.  Adrian D. Thomas and Symposium Emcee Portia Young. - photo by A. Thomas
|
|
|
Upcoming EventsVPI Partner Running Rebels Community Organization Host 2013 Fresh Coast Basketball Classic November 29-30th Are you ready for some basketball? For another year, the Fresh Coast Classic is preparing to bring to the City of Milwaukee some of the nations top college players and the mid west top high school teams to compete on the wood in a 2-day tournament. Along with the MPS high school competition, come and enjoy our 2013 Historical Black College teams. Winston-Salem State will return to defend their 2012 championship title. The additional teams chosen are Clark Atlanta University (Atlanta, GA), Lane College (Jackson, TN) and Central State University (Wilberforce, OH).  | | FCBC SPONSORSHIP VIDEO |
For more information about the Fresh Coast Basketball Classic, click here.
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Research Corner:
Learning by Heart - Six American High Schools Where Social and Emotional Learning are Core. Fenger High School, Chicago, IL.
"In September 2009, Chicago's Fenger High School became a poster child for urban school violence when rival gangs beat to death an honors student on his way home. Four years later, the school is making news again: as a turnaround school, whose staff does everything in its power to build a community of supports where failure is not an option....
This is the first of six What Kids Can Do (WKCD) case studies documenting the transformative power of social and emotional learning, and its connections to deeper learning, in a diverse collection of U.S. secondary schools. Each study explores particularities in that school's embrace of social-emotional learning." Report available at: http://www.whatkidscando.org/pdf/WKCD_Fenger_HS.pdf
Exposure to Community Violence and Trajectories of Violent Offending
This study investigated to what extent exposure to community violence affected the trajectories of already violent youth. Included in the study were 1,354 serious juvenile offenders from Philadelphia, PA and Phoenix AZ, aged 14 - 17 years old. Study participants were interviewed at baseline, then every 6 months for the first 3 years, then annually thereafter. Questions included adolescents' self-reported behaviors, exposure to violence, changes in life situations, developmental factors (e.g. planning for the future) and functional capacities (such as mental health symptoms). Information gathered during the interviews resulted in identification of four different trajectories for further violent offending. Researchers found exposure to community violence and substance use were two significant influences on continued violence. Youth who had more chronic and direct exposure to violence and/or higher levels of substance use were more likely to remain caught up in violent criminal behavior. Furthermore, this result was found to NOT be influenced by many other known risk factors, including: delinquent peers, deviant family members, neighborhood disadvantage, impulsivity, antisocial behavior, nor PTSD.
Baskin, D., & Sommers, I. (2013). Exposure to Community Violence and Trajectories of Violent Offending. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 1541204013506920.
The Protective Effects of Neighborhood Collective Efficacy on Adolescent Substance Use and Violence Following Exposure to Violence
Researchers in this study were interested in determining how neighborhood social support might promote resiliency in adolescents. The study was designed to consider whether the strengths and connectedness of a neighborhood reduces the impacts of victimization from violence on youth.
Adolescents ages 8 - 16 years old living in Chicago were included in the study. Violence data was collected from 1,718 participants, and substance use data was collected from 1,661particpants. Collective efficacy of neighborhoods was determined from data provided by adults, and included questions targeting social cohesion and social control.
Findings from the study showed more exposure to violence was associated with greater substance use and perpetration of violence by participants. Results also showed that neighborhood collective efficacy can buffer the impact of violence on substance use, yet did not seem to have the same effect on reducing the likelihood that victims would engage in violence.
Fagan, A. A., Wright, E. M., & Pinchevsky, G. M. (2013). The protective effects of neighborhood collective efficacy on adolescent substance use and violence following exposure to violence. Journal of youth and adolescence, 1-15.
|
|
|
