“We really want youth to become social agents of change in their community.”

— Dr. Billie Castle 

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

The University of Louisville Youth Violence 

Prevention Research Center (YVPRC) is focused 

on changing social norms about youth violence 

in West Louisville, KY. This area experiences 

many challenges that increase the risk for 

youth violence, including limited employment 

opportunities, economic disadvantage, and 

residential instability. 

Established in 2015 with support from CDC, the 

YVPRC partners with community organizations 

to implement a community-wide social norms 

campaign called “Pride, Peace, Prevention.” The 

campaign cultivates positive racial identity and 

inspires leadership and community engagement 

to promote youth violence prevention.

Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention

National Center for Injury

Prevention and Control

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One of the YVPRC’s goals is for youth to understand 

how social systems and organizational structures 

create the conditions that contribute to violence in their 

community. First, they help youth recognize that they 

are not bound to these social norms—that violence is 

not the answer to resolve conflict. Then, they empower 

youth to change these norms—and eventually be 

part of the transformative change needed in their 

communities.

The goal of the campaign is to provide knowledge 

about Black history and shift the dominant narratives 

of what it means to be Black in the United States. The 

campaign promotes cultural/racial pride and strives 

for a nonviolent peaceful community to prevent youth 

violence. The YVPRC recognizes the need to shift 

community dialogue to address the root causes of 

youth violence (such as patterns of inequity, economic 

disparities, and discrimination) in a meaningful way.

shifting the narrative
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“Our campaign reframes the definition of youth violence to go beyond youth behavior. It 

focuses attention on recognizing and addressing how social structures and institutions 

prevent some people from reaching their full potential, particularly youth of color.” 

— Dr. Monica Wendel 

Principal Investigator 

launching “pride, 

peace, prevention”

The YVPRC engages local youth through their 

“Louisville Youth Voices against Violence” Fellows 

program. The Fellows contribute expertise and 

share in the decision-making and ownership of 

the social norms campaign. They play a leading 

role in crafting messages and imagery related 

to Black history and cultural pride. They engage 

in community conversations to start shifting 

dominant narratives about Black youth that have 

fostered beliefs and norms that promote and 

condone violence. 

Prior to designing the campaign, Fellows also 

participated in learning sessions, researched 

African-American and world history, and 

furthered their understanding of how historical 

policies and practices have influenced 

Black communities. 

The YVPRC’s approach to engage youth as 

subject experts in their own community is 

a distinguishing feature of the project that 

contributes to its success, and serves as a model 

for other communities working to reduce violence. 

The Fellows’ lived experiences permeate the 

campaign and further violence prevention 

discussions with a truly authentic voice.

The campaign launched in Spring 2017 and uses 

social media, TV and radio ads, bus shelter signs, 

and billboards. The first wave of the campaign 

depicts Fellows recreating images of Black 

leaders who changed history. 

“I am trying to reach out and pull others 

through the door. I want to open their eyes 

to understand their identity and be proud of 

who they are.” 

— Elijah Thomas 

Louisville Youth Violence Voices Fellow 

The YVPRC evaluates social media platforms 

to ensure messages are reaching youth where 

they are and creates meaningful partnerships to 

enhance the campaign and inspire community 

engagement across a variety of business, nonprofit, and public sectors. 
The long term goal of the project is to design, 

test, and provide an innovative, evidence-based 

strategy that communities across the country can 

replicate to prevent youth violence. The focus 

of the YVPRC is to build the capacity of local 

youth and the community to address structural 

inequities, which put some groups more at risk for 

violence than others. Addressing these inequities 

cannot be accomplished through this campaign 

alone, but will serve as the catalyst for action 

across the community. Evidence of its success 

will appear over time—as social norms that 

contribute to violence are intentionally shifted, 

dominant storylines about youth are dismantled, 

and new narratives about pride, peace, and 

prevention are elevated. 

To assess the impact of the campaign, UofL 

YVPRC and its partners evaluate the impact of 

the campaign on community norms and youth 

violence in West Louisville, KY relative to a city 

not receiving the campaign, East Nashville, TN. 

YVPRC measures individual- and communitylevel outcomes using the following qualitative 

and quantitative data: 

Surveys, interviews, and focus groups 

to examine West Louisville’s history 

and values, social norms, attitudes 

toward violence, self-reported 

violence, and exposure to the social 

norming campaign,

Administrative data from emergency 

departments, schools, and police to 

evaluate the impact of the campaign 

on youth violence in the community

Cost- effectiveness of developing a 

social norming campaign to reduce 

incidents of violence among youth.

“Change is incremental. It doesn’t happen 

overnight. We are at least looking into 

what can be done and formulating 

action strategies.” 

— Elijah Thomas 

Louisville Youth Violence Voices Fellow

Visit The University of Louisville Youth Violence Prevention Center (UofL YVPC) 

louisville.edu/sphis/departments/yvprc and pridepeaceprevention.org

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assessing the

campaign’s impact

Visit CDC’s Youth Violence Prevention Center: cdc.gov/violenceprevention/YVPC/

want to learn more?