TC's Institute for Urban and Minority Education (IUME) and University of Colorado's Center for the Study of Prevention of Violence (CSPV) will be sharing a $400,000 grant from the Metropolitan Life Foundation to help address the problems of youth violence.

The IUME initiative, "Flexible and Responsive Choices Project," will create models of anti-violence programs that incorporate local issues into successful practices and distribute them nationally. Researchers will evaluate six selected violence prevention programs in New York City--through both schools and community groups--and develop guides to evaluate the success of each program.

By examining the benefits of various types of intervention that encourage community participation, the Institute can determine the best, site-specific approaches to violence prevention. Evaluations of these violence prevention programs will be published in order to inform a broader community on policy decisions and anti-violence initiatives.

In addition, a series of violence prevention workshops for professionals in New York City are planned to provide technical assistance and help strengthen services.

Dr. Erwin Flaxman, director of IUME, commented on the new program, saying: "Studies show it takes ten people to make a kid violence-prone and it will take ten people and ten interventions to undo violence. With the grant from Metropolitan Life, we're able to initiate a project that complements the other programs at the Institute by getting closer to the action and moving in multiple directions."

Ellen Beth Meier, associate project director at IUME, who Dr. Flaxman credits with initiating the grant, adds that, "The Metropolitan Life Project is exciting because it will create a sustained dialogue between practitioners and researchers working on anti-violence issues. The result will be useful resources for youth programs and useful information for those in policy-making positions.

Published Sunday, Apr. 7, 2002