Heal Our Youth: A Mixed Methods, Hybrid Effectiveness Implementation Trial for Reducing Community Violence Among Youth in Limited-Opportunity Settings

ABSTRACT

Youth from limited-opportunity communities, particularly youth of color, are disproportionately impacted by perpetration, victimization, and witnessing community violence. Current attempts to reduce community violence have largely prioritized criminal justice-oriented responses. Data indicate, however, that these responses have not improved public safety and instead widen inequities in youth health and opportunity, increasing risk for trauma-related issues1-3 and impeding success in education and employment4 for young people of color and those in under-resourced contexts. In contrast, restorative justice, which involves community-engaged conflict resolution and reconciliation, and, mindfulness, which enhances present-moment awareness, each represent a paradigm shift away from punitive responses to community violence after it occurs to strength-based prevention strategies that empower youth and communities. While restorative justice and mindfulness (RJM) practices have potential for complementary and additive violence prevention effects, to our knowledge, these two practices in combination have never before been rigorously studied for the prevention of community violence. Heal Our Youth is a 10-week, place-based intervention that is innovative in its combination of restorative justice and mindfulness training for youth and its deeply community-engaged approach; community members train youth from limited-opportunity communities in practical applications of RJM. We propose to conduct a mixed methods, hybrid type 1 effectiveness-implementation stepped wedge trial of Heal Our Youth. Participants will be 240 high school students across six sites with high rates of community violence, three in Brooklyn, NY, and three in the Bronx, NY. Two Youth & Community Advisory Committees (YCAC), one in each borough, will be created to provide feedback on all research stages. Data will include an online quantitative survey administered at baseline, post-intervention, and 3-month follow-up, and post-intervention focus groups. The study will assess the effectiveness of the intervention in reducing community violence exposure among high-risk youth (Aim 1), barriers and facilitators for effective intervention implementation (Aim 2), and neighborhood- and individual-level factors that may serve as effect modifiers of the association between intervention participation and violence-related outcomes (Aim 3). The proposed study’s use of action research and community-based participatory research methods is aligned with NIJ’s emphasis on meaningful engagement with the people closest to the subject of study, including practitioners, community members, and members of high-crime communities. Similarly, in alignment with OJP’s mission, this study represents a significant step toward developing evidence-based practices that can ultimately eradicate the epidemic of community violence and promote health equity, particularly among youth and communities disproportionately impacted by longstanding injustices. CA/NCF