Changing the Narrative on Firearms Violence: A Community Collaborative Intervention

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ABSTRACT Homicide, typically with a firearm, is the third leading cause of death for young people ages 10-24 in the U.S., disproportionally affecting African-American and other minority youth, particularly young males. In the District of Columbia, violent crime is up 28% from 2021, and homicide rates rose 14% between 2020 and 2021, with the highest impact in socioeconomically challenged communities. To address this serious public health issue, the Prevention and Community Health Department within the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health (GWSPH), together with Mint, Inc., Don’t Shoot Guns, Shoot Cameras, DC Housing Authority/Highlands Addition Community Center, the DC Office of the Attorney General, and the DC Office on Gun Violence Prevention/Building Blocks, propose to collaboratively finalize, implement and evaluate a highly unique, community-level youth firearms prevention intervention in two phases – a developmental UG3 Phase One, and an implementation UH3 Phase Two. The proposed intervention, called “Changing the Narrative on Firearms Violence,” involves a unique, theory-driven effort to develop and disseminate multiple media featuring alternative, non-violent identity trajectories, with actualization of those trajectories facilitated through a community support process. Specifically, the proposed project will: 1) Collaborate in all phases with the CLIF- VP as a cooperative agreement; 2) In Phase One (UG3), conduct formative research to finalize intervention elements, including identification of potential non-violent identity and branding attributes and identification of key community communication channels; finalize composition of the Community Steering Committee; and development/pilot testing of data collection instruments and protocols; 3) In Phase Two, implement the intervention, collect baseline and two rounds of follow-up survey data in a community sample of youth ages12- 16 and a parent/guardian for each surveyed youth, collect qualitative data to understand intervention effects, analyze the data, share data and results through the CLIF-VP, and disseminate results in collaboration with community partners and the CLIF-VP.