Novel Community Participatory Approach to Violence Intervention Program for Latino Youth

Firearm violence is heavily prominent in large urban cities. Upon closer inspection, a pattern becomes evident whereby violence clusters in marginalized minority populations. In fact, gun violence is the leading cause of death of Hispanic youth aged 15 to 29 in the United States[6]. Unfortunately, many current, existing intervention programs lack the cultural competencies needed to engage directly with impacted communities. This article highlights a novel community participatory collaborative approach for violence intervention. Collaborating with an established program, the VOICE (Violence Outreach Intervention and Community Education) Program, youth from the greater Essex County area participated in gun violence awareness sessions. Activities included virtual education workshops, in-person teaching sessions, and local community engagement activities. The program shows how community engagement, meeting students at where they are, could help us create awareness in how to de-escalate violence. This participatory approach could be an innovative way to break the cycle of violence of our youth, especially Latinos.