Connecting Youth Violence Prevention, Positive Youth Development, and Community Mobilization

Several disconnects serve to weaken the use of evidence based programming in community settings. Communities face the need
to address the challenges of multiple risk behaviors faced by adolescents in their communities, but must also work to support
successful transitions to adulthood and the broader positive development of their youth. The stronger integration of positive
youth development and prevention of youth risk at the community level may offer an opportunity to support the implementation
and ongoing development of evidence-based practices (EBPs). This article provides an overview of the VCU Clark-Hill Institute
for Positive Youth Development Institute’s community mobilization effort in Richmond, Virginia and reports preliminary findings
from our integrated mobilization efforts. First, we review the role of our Community Advisory Council in their collaborative
work to support positive youth development and reduce risk for youth violence. Next, we present examples of institute efforts
in providing technical assistance relevant to supporting the use and development of EBPs. We then discuss the adaptation of
an evidence-based program to target positive youth development. We also present overviews from qualitative investigations
examining barriers and supports that inform and are relevant to the implementation of EBPs. Finally, we consider ways in which
community efforts inform and shape institute efforts to develop EPBs. Taken together, these activities provide examples of
how community-based mobilization efforts can integrate and inform the implementation of EBPs and the role and use of prevention
science as a tool in supporting effective programming to promote positive youth development and prevent youth violence.