Fall 2011 - Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences - Case ...

etween 50 to 96 percent of youths living in urban areas
like Cleveland are exposed to violence.
Community Planning & Partnerships
The high levels of youth violence, Flannery and Singer
emphasize, typically occur in the context of significant
poverty, educational disadvantage and segregation.
Therefore, the center is collaborating on a number of
projects that address these conditions. The first is the
Academic-Community Partnership Plan (ACP), a three-year
planning project in Greater Cleveland, funded by the
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
(NICHD). The community partner is Michael Walker,
executive director of the Partnership for a Safer Cleveland.
Another project recently funded by the U.S. Department of
Justice is the Cuyahoga County Children Exposed to
Violence initiative. Participants will develop a
comprehensive strategic plan that will enable Cuyahoga
County to improve prevention, intervention and response
systems for children most at risk and exposed to violence
from birth through 17 years of age. The collaboration
includes individuals with a background in program
planning, development and evaluation, which will ensure
that short-term outcomes are measured and reported, and
a comprehensive information collection and management
system is established.
For more information on the Begun Center, go to
http://msass.case.edu/begun/
Youth Violence the Topic
at Cleveland Consortium
On Sept. 30, Cleveland city leaders gathered with
researchers from The Begun Center to discuss the topic of
youth violence. The consortium was sponsored by the
Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences and the
Partnership for a Safer Cleveland.
More than 120 people gathered to review the latest
research and talk about new violence prevention initiatives
in Cleveland. Social workers and community organizers
mingled with youth violence experts to discuss the
challenges they see every day, and the problems that
plague neighborhoods, businesses and families.
Researchers also discussed a
collaboration with the Partnership
for a Safer Cleveland and its
STANCE Cleveland initiative. The
prevention, enforcement and
reentry program is designed to
prevent violence and gang
problems in Cleveland. Leaders
also established the Louis Stokes
Greater Cleveland Consortium on
Youth Violence Prevention, an
academic-community partnership named after the former
northeast Ohio congressman. The consortium is designed
to establish academic-community partnerships, identify
community-research priorities, and develop long-term
collaborative agendas in the area of youth violence
prevention research. Stokes is a Distinguished Visiting
Professor at MSASS and said he was honored to work with
the researchers and collaborators that made it all possible.
“Nobody has to explain to me what violence is about, or
what poverty is about,” Stokes said. “I walked these streets
to Central High School. I know what it’s like to grow up
among violence. That’s why a program in our community
can work to give these young people a chance. These are
bright kids. If these kids had a chance, you would be able to
see where they could go.”
Begun Center Director Daniel Flannery, Ph.D., also talked
about the value of ongoing work in the community.
“Research continues to show us what can work to help
young people deal with violence in their daily lives,” he said.
“The consortium brings together our partners, including
members of the community, law enforcement, providers,
policy makers and funders so that we can address violence
and its impact on such things as mental health, youth
development and academic achievement,” Flannery added.
“We know that you cannot revitalize a community without
making sure that the community is safe, where young
people and their families can grow a garden, walk to school
without fear, or sit out on their porch in the evening
without the sound of surrounding gunfire.”
FALL 2011 11