The University of Kansas has been awarded a four-year, $1.7 million U.S. Health & Human Services grant that will examine the effect of the combined support of multiple organizations and agencies on youth violence in Kansas City, Kansas.
ThrYve – Youth Violence Prevention Project will be directed by Jomella Watson-Thompson, associate professor of applied behavioral science and associate director at the KU Center for Community Health and Development. Her previous research used a community-based participatory approach to address violence and adolescent substance abuse prevention locally and regionally.
Watson-Thompson said that community programs often serve different youths. “We asked ourselves what would happen if we were able to layer all our efforts to focus on the same group of kids and in the same neighborhood.”