Blueprints Project Instructs and Informs Violence Prevention Programs

The Blueprints for Violence Prevention project evaluates hundreds of prevention programs across the country. By utilizing its free Web-based resources, you can find the most appropriate prevention program for your community.

By Brandon Bryn, NCPC Staff

Over the years, communities have employed different strategies to reduce and prevent violence in their streets. In the face of murder, armed robbery, rape, and assault, police departments and concerned citizens alike have gotten creative in their approaches to these problems. Some programs born from the desire and desperation to end violent crime have had great success, while others have foundered and failed to make a significant impact on crime rates. A simple search of the World Wide Web can return hundreds of potential programs and strategies aimed at reducing violence.  But which programs have been proven effective?

The goal of the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence (CSPV), located at the University of Colorado in Boulder, is to provide just that kind of information to the public. Funded by the Colorado Division of Criminal Justice, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, the CSPV launched its Blueprints for Violence Prevention project in 1996. It was designed to evaluate violence prevention programs with strict criteria to find the most effective programs for implementation nationwide. It quickly gained the attention of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), and has enjoyed that agency’s support and funding since then as well. The CSPV and Blueprints project has three goals.

First, CSPV strives to be a clearinghouse of sorts for information related to violence prevention. The CSPV website (http://www.colorado.edu/cspv/) hosts four searchable databases containing detailed bibliographic information on many violence prevention programs. The information tends to center around adolescent and young adult violence, since these demographics experience much higher victimization and offending rates than both their older and younger counterparts. The public can access these bibliographies for free in order to learn more about specific prevention programs or to research prevention strategies related to a particular violent crime, such as gun violence or sexual assault. Armed with this up-to-date information, communities and local law enforcement can more effectively decide how to address the violence specific to their neighborhoods.

Second, the organization provides technical assistance for community members and policymakers involved in violence prevention programs. Having evaluated hundreds of violence prevention programs, CSPV staff provides consultation and workshops regarding program planning, development, implementation, and evaluation to help neighborhoods adapt the most effective strategies.

Third, the CSPV focuses intently on strong research and evaluation techniques to ensure that statistical data from violence prevention programs are analyzed and pilot projects are evaluated thoroughly to gauge their effectiveness.

All of these items culminate in the Blueprints for Violence Prevention project, which has reviewed more than 600 violence prevention programs from across the country, and selected 11 model programs that have passed a very rigorous selection criteria. These 11 model programs, or "Blueprints," have been proven effective in reducing teen violence, aggression, delinquency, and substance abuse. The project has also selected another 18 violence prevention programs deemed to be "promising," but not without implementation or sustainability flaws.

The Blueprints for Violence Prevention project provides U.S. communities with a list of proven programs as well as comprehensive implementation strategies to help ensure their effectiveness. You can visit http://www.colorado.edu/cspv/blueprints to get more information, and search for a Blueprint program that might be most effective in your own community. Unevaluated violence prevention programs can also apply for review by the Blueprints for Violence Prevention project to see if they pass the selection criteria necessary to join the ranks of other Blueprints.