Youth Violence Prevention Center Denver

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) established the National Centers of Excellence in Youth Violence Prevention (YVPC) program in 2000, with the primary goals of linking research to practice and preventing youth violence by building infrastructure and enhancing academic and community partnerships.

CSPV was first designated as a CDC funded YVPC in 2011. The resulting initiative was called Steps to Success, with the goal of reducing youth violence in Denver’s Montbello neighborhood. The Center worked closely with residents and community partners to reduce rates of violence among 10-24 year olds through a coordinated community-wide effort focused on effectively implementing a package of evidence-based programs at the individual, family and community levels.

In 2016, CSPV was again designated as a YVPC (one of five centers) by the CDC, and began the Youth Violence Prevention Center- Denver (YVPC-D), which builds upon the work of Montbello's Steps to Success project. The goal of this initiative is to reduce violence among 10- to 24-year-olds in the Montbello and Northeast Park Hill (NEPH) communities in Denver by identifying, implementing and evaluating a community-level prevention system that delivers community- and policy-level strategies matched to local need.

Neighborhood Updates: Each community has an active community board, has established their identity and are developing their community action plan. Montbello's work has been known by the name Steps to Success since 2011. NEPH’s name is Park Hill Strong. Both communities have engaged local, city and state partners to analyze data collected directly from adult and youth neighbors and selected community level prevention strategies matched to their local needs. Implementation of those strategies is in progress. Both Steps to Success and Park Hill Strong are well positioned to have a lasting, positive impact on their community and improve the outcomes for their youth.