This page is currently under construction. About 60 UT faculty and Austin residents attended the forum, which was help by the Shaw-Cotera Youth Violence Consortium and the Center for Criminology and Criminal Justice Research. Forum participants separated into groups to brainstorm about ways the University and the Austin community can work together to prevent youth violence. Group suggestions included providing training on violence for community and school leaders, doing research on youth violence, and providing community outreach - such as speakers and training. We're all at risk.
Teachers are at risk and students are at risk.
He added that the board has not addressed youth violence sufficiently and said he hopes the forum will help spotlight the problem and allow the board to begin dealing with it. Juan Villa, a member of the AISD school support service, agreed, saying education is key to ending youth violence. We need to know that whatever is coming into our schools, there's help out there. But identifying children and families that are at-risk for violence is a difficult process, said Doots Dufour, director of the criminal justice ministry at the diocese of Austin. It can hold workshops to help define youth violence issues and offer solutions.