National Center for Injury Prevention and Control 

Division of Violence Prevention

Building Community Commitment 

for Safe, Stable, Nurturing 

Relationships and Environments

A Supplement to CDC’s Essentials for Childhood: 

Steps to Create Safe, Stable, Nurturing 

Relationships and Environments
2
3

Safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments are among the most powerful, protective, and 

healing forces in a child’s life. These relationships—fostered at home, school and in the community—are 

the building blocks of a child’s physical and emotional growth.1 Children deserve opportunities for these 

types of relationships from the beginning of their lives onward, so they can thrive and grow into healthy 

adults who can contribute to their communities in the future.

Further, safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments can promote healthy children’s 

development and can also buffer against the impact of stress and trauma. By ensuring that 

neighborhoods are safe, nurturing places for children, communities can help protect even the most 

vulnerable children. 

A lack of commitment to act is a significant obstacle to improved community health,2 and raising 

awareness is an important step toward creating safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments. 

This publication introduces nine key elements of successful efforts that raise awareness and build 

commitment for safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments. They are organized in three 

clusters: Developing a Vision, Raising Awareness, and Partnering with Others. Relevant examples from 

the field of injury and violence prevention illustrating each element and a case study including the nine 

elements are presented. 

Developing a Vision

When a group of diverse stakeholders agree on a shared vision for a better future they can operate under 

the same assumptions and work toward a common goal. Vision statements reflect local principles. They 

can describe what the community will be or will gain by aspiring to foster a safe context for growing up, 

and they can clarify the desired outcomes of the effort as a whole. 

Elements of Developing a Vision include:

1. Establish a Process for Developing a Shared Vision 

The process for developing a shared vision can be as important as the vision itself. The process 

facilitates a dialogue on what holds meaning for everyone at the table, what values people hold dear, 

and which priorities truly matter.3,4 A process designed to promote buy-in can engage diverse partners 

in developing a solution and implementing it. Though the process can take time and resources, such an 

investment can be worthwhile. The steps and tenor of the process can build trusting relationships and 

cultivate broad support for the vision as it takes shape, which can facilitate more widespread action later. 

Establishing a process for developing a shared vision may include steps such as: 

■ Identify a lead agency and single point of contact to facilitate dialogue and coordinate logistics.

■ Gather information and orient participants to the issue.

■ Ask people to share local examples of an effective process, to say why it worked, and to provide 

examples of processes that could have been more effective.

■ Discuss as a group when and how perspectives will be shared, and how decisions will be made and 

by whom.

■ Adopt the definitions for Safe, Stable, Nurturing Relationships and Environments (www.cdc.gov/

violenceprevention/childmaltreatment/essentials) 

■ Develop a common language for sharing the vision related to safe, stable, nurturing relationships 

and environments.
4

4

Example: 

Tasked with creating a strategic plan to prevent violence, the Minneapolis Youth Violence Prevention 

Steering Committee began with a commitment to honor all viewpoints. Committee members agreed 

that partnerships and collaboration were vital to success, and that “a spirit of cooperation, trust and 

respect will drive our process.” In meetings co-chaired by the mayor, the Committee developed a shared 

vision in dialogue with each other, by exchanging observations, stories and expertise.

2. Engage the Community

It is important to have a strong and transparent mechanism for a diverse 

population to share its lived experiences and discover common goals and 

grievances.5 For example, the input and leadership of community members 

will ensure that prioritized strategies to promote safe, stable, nurturing 

relationships and environments are relevant to their needs, culturallyappropriate, account for local history and context, and are thus most likely 

to succeed.6,7,8 When community members are invested in the process and 

its outcomes, they are also better able to hold leaders accountable. This 

facilitates more sustained attention to providing safe, stable, nurturing 

relationships and environments for children. 

Community members have an integral role in any effort to promote safe, stable, nurturing relationships 

and environments from developing a vision and initial planning, to implementation and evaluation. 

Including families and those directly impacted by child maltreatment in developing the vision, for 

example, is a sign that the community’s expertise is clearly respected and valued.7,8 Working together 

with parents and families, survivors of abuse, advocates and activists, schools, faith- and communitybased organizations, and local businesses and media fosters broad ownership for the shared vision and 

mobilizes people to contribute to the solution.7 Engaging the community may involve steps such as: 

■ Identify influential community members and reach out to them.

■ Convene focus groups and community listening sessions.

■ Conduct interviews with community members and community groups to gather their input.

■ Facilitate community participation by holding meetings in places accessible for community 

members, assist with transportation to and from meeting sites, arrange for child care during the 

meetings, ensure adequate translation services, and provide incentives for participation such as 

honorariums, gift cards and meals.

■ Inventory and connect with existing community based efforts to promote safe, stable, nurturing 

relationships and environments including those that prevent or address child maltreatment and 

other related efforts

■ Establish a process and structure for ongoing input and participation, whereby community 

members are involved in governance and decision-making.

■ Ensure that those representing the community as a whole reflect a diverse mix of community 

characteristics.

■ Implement regular mechanisms for sharing information with the community in formats the 

community has identified as useful.
5

Example: 

More than 30 local agencies, organizations and businesses make up the UP2USNow Child Abuse 

Prevention Coalition in rural Oregon. Coalition members and partners are influential in the community, 

and represent the diversity of Douglas County. UP2USNow has also made a point to regularly partner 

with youth to advance its cause. For example, the coalition sponsors the Youth Media Project, which 

trains students on prevention, messaging and video production. To raise awareness about preventing child 

abuse, the young people interview coalition partners and community members about their work, and 

create public service announcements and videos that are shared online and aired on local television. 

3. Use Simple, Straightforward Language in the Vision Statement 

Simple, straightforward language means everyone can clearly and consistently communicate the vision to 

many different audiences. A memorable, common-sense vision statement is more likely to resonate with 

people, no matter the context. Straightforward language that everyone can use and understand enables all 

partners to express why safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments are important.6 Concrete, 

action-oriented language that asserts it is both possible and worthwhile to create safe neighborhoods can 

also help counter the inaccurate perception that violence is not preventable. Indeed, clear language can 

support the fact that violent behavior can be unlearned or not learned at all,9 which can help reinforce 

the need and desire for safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments. Landing on simple, 

understandable language that resonates broadly may involve steps such as: 

■ Use language directly from interviews and focus groups with community members.

■ Ask a group of parents to review and finalize the language.

■ Arrange for different sectors and partners to vet the language across sectors, and ensure it resonates 

for all. 

■ Remove any language from an aspirational vision statement that emphasizes or only reflects the 

particular approach of any one sector or professional discipline.

Example: 

To raise awareness about its child abuse prevention initiative, Otoe County in Nebraska developed 

a compelling vision statement. The partners wanted the vision statement to state their goal and also 

be something everyone in the community could support – “Bright futures begin at birth! Every child 

will receive the nurturing care essential to become compassionate, contributing members of their 

communities.”

4. Analyze Barriers to Widespread Adoption

Advance planning to address potential problems helps ensure widespread acceptance and smooth 

operationalization of the vision statement. Analyzing barriers means thinking about why this issue is not 

already a local priority and deciding how to overcome these challenges. Barriers include disagreements 

over the role of government or the community in protecting children, especially given the values of 

individualism and personal responsibility;5 the widespread attitude that child maltreatment is a private 

family matter and “not my business”; the notion that safe, stable and nurturing relationships are the 

sole responsibility of parents; a focus on individual stories and solutions rather than on improving 

environments to promote safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments; dynamics related to 

socioeconomic status; and the tension of turf and other obstacles to effective collaboration. Analyzing 

barriers to widespread adoption involves steps such as: 
6

■ Identify constraints related to politics, capacity, funding and other resources, and community trust 

and readiness.

■ Speak with practitioners who have tried to move this issue or related issues in the past and learn what 

barriers they faced.

■ Gather information from local leaders on their current degree of support and consider what might 

garner additional support moving forward. 

■ Assess how child maltreatment has been framed in the past, such as whether it is discussed as a 

parental issue or a community issue.

■ Meet with potential funders to hear how they view the issue and what they might be willing to support 

moving forward.

■ Develop a plan to resolve critical obstacles.

■ Identify needed training and technical assistance.

Example: One of the goals of First 5 LA is to ensure that children are safe from abuse and neglect. 

When deciding on priority strategies to meet this goal for Los Angeles County, First 5 LA included 

feasibility and timeliness in its selection criteria. First 5 LA assessed each strategy’s potential benefit for 

children and families in general, but it also examined how the potential strategies would increase safety 

specifically, analyzed the likelihood for success, and considered current windows of opportunity for 

action.
7

Raising Awareness

Successful efforts to raise awareness help focus the attention of a wider audience on the importance of 

safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments. They can change how people connect with the 

issue, which can prompt action.5

One important way to advance social change to promote safe, stable, nurturing relationships and 

environments is to watch for strategic opportunities and be prepared to quickly mobilize resources and 

partners. These windows for action sometimes arise during or after a crisis that captures the attention of 

the nation, of the state or a local community. Maintaining the capacity to act swiftly and decisively when 

opportunities arise can facilitate success. 

Raising awareness can include disseminating a new frame through several communication channels. 

Framing is how people use language to create and derive meaning from the world around them, and 

certain words prompt a particular interpretation of events. It is crucial to reframe both the issue itself 

and the solutions.10 For additional guidance, see Suggested Practices for Journalists Reporting on Child 

Maltreatment and Suggested Steps for Engaging the Media in Child Maltreatment Prevention, supplemental 

documents to Essentials for Childhood created for CDC by Berkeley Media Studies Group. 

Elements of raising awareness include:

5. Make the Case

Making the case that people have a personal stake in ensuring that relationships and their neighborhoods 

are safe, stable and nurturing can draw additional supporters and catalyze momentum for positive change. 

Sharing new information or repackaging common knowledge is an important step toward improving how 

communities understand safe, stable and nurturing relationships and environments. 

Describing the problem and its solutions in creative, compelling ways can help persuade different types 

of people to take an active role in creating safe, stable and nurturing relationships and environments.5

Depending on the intended audience, making the case may involve the following steps: 

■ Lift up approaches that effectively promote safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments, and 

describe how they’ve led to healthier outcomes for children and families.

■ Expand the scope of strategies like healthy parenting, so they are understood as important learned 

skills for everyone.

■ Publicize cost-benefit data.

■ Articulate the benefits for the whole community.

■ Describe how safe environments benefit specific groups of people.

■ Provide examples of what has worked, to make sure people know this is do-able.
8

Example: When San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro launched the Brainpower Initiative, he described early 

education as critically important to the city’s quality of life and economic development. For San Antonio to 

be globally competitive in the 21st century, Mayor Castro argued, it needed to invest in pre-kindergarten, 

so that toddlers of today would grow up to be an educated, capable workforce. He made the case that 

the Brainpower Initiative would promote academic achievement and improve graduation rates, and he 

presented evidence that the city would gain $7 for every dollar invested in high-quality pre-kindergarten. 

With support from local business and education leaders and seven former mayors, San Antonio voters 

approved a funding measure to support full-day pre-K for 4,000 four-year-olds every year, through 2020.

6. Recruit Champions

Champions give voice to the work, and their perseverance and compelling stories 

keep the issue relevant and in the public eye. Champions often bring credibility, 

visibility and unity to local efforts. Their personal connection to the issue can cut 

through turf battles, spur others into action, sustain the movement, and help hold 

partners accountable.7

 Champions can strengthen momentum for safe, stable, 

nurturing relationships and environments through their obvious dedication to the 

shared vision. Champions enjoy traction with the audience and can convey positive 

messages about the importance of safe, stable, nurturing places and relationships 

for children. They can be survivors, parents, community elders, doctors and nurses, 

celebrities, public officials and decision-makers who are committed to the issue. 

Recruiting champions may involve: 

■ Identify individuals or types of people the audience trusts.

■ Look at who is talking about this issue or related issues through local media outlets. 

■ Talk to community groups, local practitioners and funders who work on this issue or related issues, to 

identify individuals who are already champions or are potential champions.

■ Look at which issues local leaders have prioritized and assess relevance for advancing the community’s 

vision.

■ Consider whether these individuals are appropriate role models.

■ Gauge the interest and capacity of possible champions to serve as a spokespeople.

■ Provide information, opportunities and other supports for champions to excel at this role.

Example: After winning re-election on a platform of reducing methamphetamine abuse, the sheriff of 

Laurel County, Kentucky, used this opportunity to raise awareness about child abuse and its connection to 

drug addiction. He hosted community meetings at unlikely venues such as fire stations and Elks Lodges, 

and invited health educators and children’s advocates to travel with him throughout the county. These 

discussions emphasized that preventing child abuse was a community responsibility, not just the purview 

of law enforcement, and they highlighted the role of neighborhood organizations and the regional medical 

center in promoting safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments. 
9

7. Leverage Influential Allies

Influential allies can help legitimatize a movement, boost support, increase assets and resources, and 

spark additional discussion. While champions may single-handedly drive an issue and partners are 

key in planning and implementation, influential allies can engage key groups, have credibility with the 

community or a particular audience, and can hold others accountable for their actions and outcomes. The 

groups or individuals with influence vary, and can include the business community or a specific employer, 

the faith community, a local leader, a service organization, or an editorial board. The support of influential 

allies can prompt specific people to take desired actions to help achieve the vision. Influential allies can 

raise awareness with specific groups or individuals who are key to success and then use their influence to 

garner commitment. Steps to identify or engage influential allies may include:

■ Schedule presentations at local service clubs and gauge their interest in this issue and the shared vision.

■ Work with local organizations to identify long-term donors and supporters who may want to leverage 

their influence to build support for this effort.

■ Identify local leaders who have expressed support for children’s issues.

■ Meet with large local employers who employ parents.

■ Engage health care providers who witness the ramifications of serious child maltreatment. 

■ Share information about the problem and solutions with local editorial boards and media outlets.

■ Share information with the local chamber of commerce that conveys both the costs of child 

maltreatment to businesses (e.g., lost productivity and work days) and the benefits of supporting safe, 

stable, nurturing relationships and environments.

■ Meet with faith leaders and engage them in speaking out about the need for safe, stable, nurturing 

relationships and environments and for holding local systems and leaders accountable.

Example: The violence prevention collaborative based in Breckenridge, Minnesota, engaged influential 

allies as one of its first steps. It brought together professionals on the front lines, those who witness how 

violence affects children, such as social workers, schools, law enforcement and emergency room staff. 

These allies had agreed from the outset to “stay open and listen without preconceived notions,” and 

continued to support the initiative after community input called for the collaborative to shift focus from 

reducing bullying to strengthening families. The support of these powerful groups added legitimacy to the 

initiative and increased referral rates for hard-to-reach families.
10

Partnering with Others

When community members and multiple sectors embrace their roles in fostering healthy development, 

communities can create safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments for children to thrive. 

To accomplish this, those working to ensure safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments can 

coordinate with existing initiatives and planning efforts, and partner with other groups and sectors.1,11,12 The 

range of partners may include businesses, funders, government agencies, grassroots organizations, elected 

leaders, the media, community members, and researchers. 

Elements of partnering with others include:

8. Determine Clear, Do-Able Roles for Each Partner

Partners must believe that creating safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments is a realistic, 

achievable goal. It is important they feel hopeful that their efforts will pay off and benefit the community, 

and that they appreciate how the shared vision might evolve from an ambitious idea into a tangible reality. 

One way to establish this sense of optimism is for the roles and responsibilities of each partner to be 

concrete and specific. Determining roles for each partner may involve: 

■ Develop specific actions and articulate who is responsible for each strategy prioritized to achieve the 

vision.

■ Establish shared indicators so progress can be tracked and measured across partners.

■ Establish an organizational structure with appropriate committees or work groups to support assigned 

roles and responsibilities.

■ Develop and sign memoranda of understanding and other collaborative agreements. 

Example: To improve the city’s response to children exposed to violence, Chicago Safe Start clearly 

conveys their respective roles to the advisory board, six implementation teams, two community councils, 

and incubator projects. The Direct Service Team, for example, oversees service referral systems in four 

neighborhoods, whereas the Court Action Team advances courts-related practices and policies to better 

serve children exposed to violence. 

9. Create Structures for Accountability

Setting clear expectations for all stakeholders on what each will deliver increases the chances they follow 

through. Structures for accountability ensure that partners will accomplish what they set out to do. Many 

stakeholders have one of two common assumptions—no one group is responsible for preventing violence, 

or everyone is responsible for preventing violence. In either case, this diffuse sense of ownership can too 

easily translate into a lack of initiative and the effort’s eventual failure. Creating structures for accountability 

may involve: 
11

■ Follow agreed-upon methods for communicating with each other, coordinating work, and reporting 

progress back to the group.

■ Develop an evaluation plan, and collect and share data according to the timeline.

■ Identify desired outcomes for each evidence-based strategy.

■ Document work and measure progress toward goals, including related indicators and intermediate 

outcomes.

■ Establish reporting mechanisms such as to a steering committee, board, commission, city council or 

board of supervisors, as well as back to the community.

■ Secure additional support for the staff time associated with fulfilling agreed-upon responsibilities. 

Identify which of these responsibilities align with existing funding sources. 

■ Establish a mechanism for coordination across all the activities, such as through staffing or coalition 

meetings. 

■ Consider the use of an indicator report or report card that captures progress toward realizing the 

community’s shared vision, and can be used in communications. 

■ Garner media coverage for efforts and publicize successes. 

Example: As members of the Safe Start Initiative in Morris County, New Jersey, worked more closely 

together, they realized they were most effective when member organizations agreed to complete tasks 

that aligned with their existing activities. In order to strengthen the skills of parents and caregivers, the 

steering committee had to be realistic about how each member organization’s mandate and funding 

overlapped with the coalition’s goals. This deeper understanding of member organizations’ priorities 

enabled the coalition to develop short- and long-term objectives, and a multi-year work plan to guide 

their efforts and hold member organizations accountable.
12

Case Study: 

North Carolina Task Force on Child Abuse Prevention

In its work throughout the state, Prevent Child Abuse (PCA) North Carolina had identified obstacles 

to creating the conditions for children to thrive (Element 4). For example, the state had largely ignored 

strategies that prevent child maltreatment in the first place, and efforts across multiple systems and 

organizations were not coordinated. To spark a dialogue on overcoming these challenges and on 

opportunities for policy and systems change, PCA North Carolina recruited an influential ally, the 

North Carolina Institute of Medicine, to co-convene a state-wide task force on child abuse prevention 

(Element 7). 

The Task Force included community members, such as residents, parent representatives and pastors 

(Element 2), and two champions emerged as co-chairs – Marian Earls, a respected pediatrician and 

children’s advocate, and the North Carolina Health and Human Services Secretary Carmen Hooker 

Odom (Element 6). Together with several elected officials, various government agencies, foundations, 

hospitals and community-based organizations, they developed an ambitious vision, whereby “Every 

child is nurtured, supported and protected within a safe and stable home and community environment” 

(Element 3). 

Over eight months, the Task Force developed 13 priority recommendations, which specific partners 

agreed to implement and to report on their progress within the year (Elements 8 and 9). As one of 

many joint projects, the Division of Public Health within the North Carolina Department of Health and 

Human Services (DHHS) and PCA North Carolina opted to develop a public education campaign that 

promotes community responsibility for child well-being. After analyzing commissioned research on 

the pitfalls of traditional messaging, however, this pair realized it needed to first build communications 

capacity (Element 4). PCA North Carolina and DHHS shifted gears and instead developed 

communications tool-kits and formed a learning community. They also offered train-the-trainer 

workshops on effective framing and on working with the media to raise the profile of this issue with 

sights on social change. This way, state organizations were equipped to better make the case for safe, 

stable, nurturing relationships and environments and healthy child development (Element 5); convey 

consistent messages across departments; and impart these valuable skills to their grassroots networks. 

As a result of their efforts, DHHS and PCA North Carolina saw a change in media reporting, and 

enhanced awareness and commitment within state agencies. The DHHS Women and Children’s Health 

Section and its Injury and Violence Prevention Branch now collaborate much more closely, for example. 

“We’re seeing a shift in the way this is being presented in the media,” said Sarah Vidrine of PCA North 

Carolina. After analyzing all relevant media stories, “we were astounded at the 300-percent increase 

in more effectively-framed stories after one year. The messages are changing.” The North Carolina 

Framing Learning Community now works to replicate these successes at the community level, and to 

shift social norms and policies in support of safe, stable homes and neighborhoods.
13

Conclusion

Ensuring safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments where children thrive requires 

collective action to prevent harm before it happens. One goal of raising awareness and building 

commitment is to engage ongoing commitment from high-level leadership. This can lend sufficient 

power and impart necessary resources to drive changes. High-level officials have particular influence 

in convening people and organizations that otherwise may not come together. Their big-picture lens 

also creates opportunities to connect different initiatives related to education, safety and social services, 

for example, for greater synergy. Further, leaders can increase accountability and demand a good-faith 

effort to improve outcomes.

Practitioners can use this list of elements as a planning tool or as a means to identify gaps for 

initiatives in progress. Together, the elements described here can help establish the necessary 

relationships and infrastructure across sectors to ultimately change norms, provide information to 

inform and develop policies, enhance programs and share data, for example. Raising awareness 

and building commitment lays the foundation for other important strategies to promote safe, stable, 

nurturing relationships and environments. 

Elements of Building Community Commitment

Developing a Vision

1. Establish a Process for Developing a Vision

2. Engage Community

3. Use Simple, Straightforward Language in the Vision Statement

4. Analyze Barriers to Widespread Adoption

Building Awareness

5. Make the Case

6. Recruit Champions

7. Leverage Influential Allies

Partnering with Others

8. Determine Clear, Do-Able Roles for Each Partner

9. Create Structures for Accountability
14

Acknowledgements

This document was developed for CDC by Prevention Institute as a supplemental piece to Essentials 

for Childhood: Steps to Create Safe, Stable, Nurturing Relationships and Environments. Special thanks to 

Catherine Joyner of the North Carolina Division of Public Health and Sarah Vidrine of Prevent Child 

Abuse North Carolina for sharing details about their work. The authors also thank Jill Christopherson, 

Ann Trebesch, Marion Kotowski, Cynthia Lyons, Tracy Monfre, June Rawlings, Lisa Rutheford, 

and Traci Reuter for describing lessons learned by their communities. Their efforts are funded in 

part by Catholic Health Initiatives. CDC appreciates the administrative support of SciMetrika in the 

development of this document.

Additional Resources

■ Suggested Practices for Journalists Reporting on Child Maltreatment and Suggested Steps for Engaging 

the Media in Child Maltreatment Prevention, supplemental documents to Essentials for Childhood 

created for CDC by Berkeley Media Studies Group.

■ Making the Case for Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention by FrameWorks Institute (2004) and 

commissioned by Prevent Child Abuse America: http://www.frameworksinstitute.org/

childabuse.html 

■ New Directions North Carolina: A Report of the NC Institute of Medicine Task Force on Child Abuse 

Prevention by the North Carolina Institute of Medicine and Prevent Child Abuse North Carolina 

(2005): http://www.nciom.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/finalCAPreport.pdf 
15

References

1. Daro D, Dodge KA. Creating community responsibility for child protection: Possibilities and 

challenges. The Future of Children 2009; 19(2): 67-93. 

2. Frieden TR. A framework for public health action: The health impact pyramid. American Journal of 

Public Health 2010; 100(4): 590. 

3. Prevention Institute. Good health counts: A 21st century approach to health and community for 

California. Oakland: Prevention Institute, 2007.

4. Swain CD, Hollar D. Measuring progress: Community indicators and the quality of life. International 

Journal of Public Administration 2003; 26(7): 789-814. 

5. Lawrence RG. (2004). Framing obesity the evolution of news discourse on a public health issue. The 

Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics 2004; 9(3): 56-75. 

6. Arthur MW, Briney JS, Hawkins JD, Abbott RD, Brooke-Weiss BL, Catalano RF. Measuring risk and 

protection in communities using the Communities That Care Youth Survey. Evaluation and Program 

Planning 2007; 30(2): 197-211. 

7. Hambleton BB, Clark G, Sumaya CV, Weissman G, Horner J. HRSA’s strategies to combat family 

violence. Academic Medicine 1997; 72(1): 110. 

8. Parker E, Margolis LH, Eng E, Henríquez-Roldán C. Assessing the capacity of health departments 

to engage in community-based participatory public health. American Journal of Public Health 

2003; 93(3): 472-476. 

9. Babcock JC, Green CE, Robie C. Does batterers’ treatment work? A meta-analytic review of 

domestic violence treatment. Clinical Psychology Review 2004; 23(8): 1023-1053.

10. Dorfman L, Wallack L, Berkeley Media Studies Group. Moving from them to us: Challenges in reframing 

violence among youth. Berkeley: Berkeley Media Studies Group, 2009.

11. Austin S. Community-building principles: Implications for professional development. Child Welfare 

2005; 84(2): 105-122. 

12. Padgett SM, Bekemeier B, Berkowitz B. Collaborative partnerships at the state level: Promoting 

systems changes in public health infrastructure. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice 

2004; 10(3): 251-257. 
For more information, please contact:

Division of Violence Prevention

National Center for Injury Prevention and Control

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

4770 Buford Highway, MS F-64, Atlanta, GA 30341

Telephone: 1-800-CDC-INFO (232-4636)/TTY:1-888-232-6348

www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention

4/2014