The Chicago Center for Youth Violence Prevention 

(CCYVP) uses research to understand the causes 

and consequences of youth violence. This 

information guides prevention activities to reduce 

youth violence by promoting family-focused 

programs that provide support to residents in 

Chicago communities.

Strong families are essential to preventing youth 

violence. But families often need some support, 

particularly those living in neighborhoods 

experiencing concentrated disadvantage and 

high rates of violence.

The CCYVP is unique because its’ work is 

based on decades of research about how 

to strengthen families through programs 

that provide opportunities for information 

exchange, knowledge and skills-building, and 

practice. CCYVP has supported families in two 

distinct ways:

1. Building informal networks of support for 

parents who may be experiencing similar 

disadvantages. 

2. Providing a positive experience for people 

who seek support and assistance so that 

they are more likely to reach out for help as 

needed in the future.

— Dr. Deborah Gorman-Smith 

Principal Investigator

“I think it’s a similar story about communities as it is about families. It’s about accessing 

and elevating the strengths that already exist. It’s certainly not the case that there isn’t 

a need for resources and services. But I think we underestimate the human capital that 

exists within families and with communities.” 

Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention

National Center for Injury

Prevention and Control 1

youth violence prevention centers

working with families to promote positive

youth development and prevent youth violence
neighborhood

matters

Much of CCYVP’s research focuses on the 

intersection between neighborhoods and 

families, emphasizing that where a person lives 

matters in terms of what it takes to promote 

healthy youth development. Networks of 

support are particularly important in highly 

stressed neighborhoods. Families and children 

in these neighborhoods are likely to face 

more daily challenges including access to 

healthy food, parents working multiple jobs, 

under-employment or unemployment, lack of 

affordable childcare, unstable housing, lack of 

transportation, lack of quality education, and 

community violence. Therefore, additional 

supports and resources to help alleviate some 

of the burden on these families is an important 

strategy to promote healthy families and youth.

CCYVP’s past family-centric initiatives focused 

on strengthening families of youth at high risk 

for violence. The goals of the programs are to 

build informal networks of support for families 

and provide opportunities to learn from each 

other. Families attend multiple sessions in 

order to build relationships. Key examples of 

the types of programs designed and tested by 

CCYVP include1

:

Schools and Families Educating Children 

(SAFE Children): Intended for first-graders, 

the program focuses on helping parents give 

their children a healthy start in school. It 

teaches parents how to get more involved 

in their children’s school; develop consistent 

discipline and monitoring practices; improve 

family relationships; and use other parents 

and families for information and support. 

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“We’re using research to change the 

narrative about how families who live in 

high-burden neighborhoods are viewed.”

— Dr. Deborah Gorman-Smith

Principal Investigator

strengthening

families

CCYVP recognizes that there is no single or 

one-size-fits-all approach to eliminating youth 

violence because it is a multi-faceted problem. 

As such, CCYVP aims to provide a multi-faceted 

solution, including family-focused programs 

about improving family relationships and 

parenting, as these are among the strongest 

predictors of risk for violent behavior.
By the time the first graders whose 

families participated in SAFE Children

entered high school, they were 50 

percent more likely to be on track 

for graduation and half as likely to 

have had a violent incident in school,

compared with a control group of 

students who did not participate in 

the program1.

Prior evaluations of the GREAT 

Families program showed that 

participants saw relative benefits in 

family cohesion and family problem 

solving. The GREAT Families

program also resulted in reductions 

in aggressive behavior among the 

targeted participants and the overall 

student population2,3. 

The overarching lesson from these programs 

is that everyone benefits when families have 

the tools to support themselves and the 

healthy development of their children. Another 

lesson is that engaging families who live in 

challenging environments is difficult and family 

programs should be considered for inclusion in 

a comprehensive strategy for youth violence 

prevention. 

CCYVP seeks to disseminate lessons learned 

and successes from their family-focused 

programming so that similar communities 

throughout the United States can apply the 

best-available evidence to their youth violence 

prevention approach.

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c c y v p’s i m pac t

Previous Evaluation Findings

CCYVP has already achieved success in

reducing youth violence and increasing prosocial behaviors, as evidenced by the impact of 

past family initiatives: 

Guiding Responsibility and Expectations 

in Adolescents Today & Tomorrow (GREAT 

Schools & Families): As violence typically 

increases during adolescence, this program is 

designed to support families of middle school 

youth who were nominated by their teachers as 

being both at risk for aggressive behavior and 

socially influential among their peers. Designed 

to reduce school violence, the program focuses 

on promoting children’s academic and social 

competence, improving parental skills such as 

effective discipline techniques, and promoting 

parental involvement with schools. 

The overarching lesson from from these programs 

is that we all benefit when families have the 

tools to support themselves and the healthy 

development of their children.

Research shows that one way to have sustained 

impact on limiting risk for serious and violent 

behavior is to work with and provide support 

to families.
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— Dr. Deborah Gorman-Smith 

Principal Investigator

“My vision is that ten years from now the community looks really different - we don’t have 

a 40% unemployment rate, there’s adequate housing, kids are graduating in the 90% rate 

instead of the 60% or 70%, families are receiving needed mental health and social services, 

and that we have significant reductions in violence. That’s what we hope to happen.”

Visit The Chicago Center for Youth Violence Prevention (CCYVP): 

ssa.uchicago.edu/CCYVP

Visit CDC’s Youth Violence Prevention Center: 

cdc.gov/violenceprevention/yvpc/

1. Tolan, P., Gorman-Smith, D., & Henry, D. (2004). Supporting families in a high-risk setting: proximal effects of the SAFEChildren preventive 

intervention. Journal of consulting and clinical psychology, 72(5), 855.

2. Multisite Violence Prevention Project. (2013). Targeting high-risk, socially influential middle school students to reduce aggression: universal 

versus selective preventive intervention effects. Journal of research on adolescence, 24(2), 364-382.

3. Multisite Violence Prevention Project. (2009). The ecological effects of universal and selective violence prevention programs for middle 

school students: a randomized trial. Journal of consulting and clinical psychology, 77(3), 526-42.

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