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Violence Prevention

Violence prevention programs often include a conflict resolution education component, but are more likely to include increases in safety and security issues relevant to the prevention of serious violent behaviors that are, luckily, still quite rare in schools (Burstyn et al, 2001). Violence prevention efforts seek to decrease serious risk behavior, including violence toward self and others, risky sexual behavior, and substance abuse (Wilson, Gottfredson & Najaka, 2001). Conflict resolution education is focused more on the development of important life skills, and especially communication skills, that help students find nonviolent ways to handle their problems and, thereby, may decrease violent behavior.

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Sample Catalog Resources

Below you'll find a randomized listing of up to 20 related items (we may have more...) drawn from our Resource Catalog.

Resource Title Description Links
Social and Emotional Learning and Bullying Prevention 21-page briefing paper prepared for the National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) and the Social and Emotional Learning Research Group at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "Schools using a social and emotional learning (SEL) framework can foster an overall climate of inclusion, warmth, and respect, and promote the development of core social and emotional skills among both students and staff. Because bullying prevention is entirely congruent with SEL, it can be embedded in a school's SEL framework. The aims of this brief are to (a) provide a basic description of a school-wide SEL framework, (b) illustrate the relationship between social and emotional factors and bullying, and (c) explain how an SEL framework can be extended to include bullying prevention."
Men stopping rape exercises Pdf article from Conflict Management in Higher Education Report, Volume 6, Number 1, (Nov 2005), which presents a "list of some of the exercises developed by the members of Men Stopping Rape in Madison, WI, for use in anti-rape workshops, I compiled this list for use in Syracuse at a Man-to-Man training program entitled 'Practical Strategies for Ending Abuse: A Skill Training for Educators.'"
Evaluation of a School-Based, Universal Violence Prevention Program: Low, Medium, & High-Risk Research article summarizing a violence intervention initiative. The investigation examined the differential effectiveness of PeaceBuilders, a large-scale, universal violence prevention program, on male and female youth identified as low, medium, or high risk for future violence. It included eight urban schools randomly assigned to intensive intervention and wait-list control conditions. The sample included N = 2,380 predominantly minority children in kindergarten through fifth grade. Results indicated differential effectiveness of the intervention, by level of risk; high-risk children reported more decreases in aggression and more increases in social competence in comparison to children at medium and low levels of risk. Findings add to a growing number of promising science-based prevention efforts that seek to reduce aggression and increase social competence; they provide encouraging evidence that relatively low-cost, schoolwide efforts have the potential to save society millions in victim, adjudication, and incarceration costs.
Youth and Conflict: Best Practices and Lessons Learned Mercy Corps, as an international NGO focused on "saving and improving lives in the world's toughest places" believes youth are a force for positive change -- the generation that can help transition their countries into productive and secure nations. However, youth are the primary participants in conflict today. The reasons they participate in conflict are multi-dimensional - they lack economic opportunities, political voice and a sense of belonging or connection to their communities. Often the only way young people can imagine changing their predicament is through violence. In Mercy Corps programs the focus is on catalyzing youth's desire for change into positive outlets. This 11-page pdf publication is a sample of Youth and Conflict Best Practices and Lessons Learned drawn from Mercy Corps' programs, other agencies, donors, think tanks and researchers. It is divided into six sections: * General Program Design and Implementation. This section includes advice on training, as it is a central part of many of our youth programs. * Economic Engagement * Political Participation * Youth-to-Community Connections * Youth-to-Youth Connections * Addendum: Lessons from Our Colleagues
Violence begets violence, breaking conflict cycles One page diagram illustrating the cycle of conflict caused by stress in a child.
Children at risk, violence in our home Two diagrams, one outlining the ways in which children may be at risk, such as physical, sexual and emotional abuse, the second diagram shows ways in which at risk children have problems in school, such as acting out, falling asleep, and no respect for authority.
Youth Leadership Development Module on Conflict Management This 38-page pdf on conflict management strategies for youth leaders was provided as a handout for a May 2008 training for youth in Namibia. The event was sponsored by Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and facilitated by C.T. Bayer & B.T. Schernick. The materials include several creative visualizations of conflict resolution concepts.
Ferdinand the bull: The story of a bull who wouldn't fight: Resource guide for teachers on NV 23-page pdf study guide created to accompany "The Hudson Vagabond Puppets’ production of Ferdinand tthe Bull [which] can serve as a focus point for an indepth look at conflict resolution in the classroom. The performance will end with a brief lecture-demonstration developed in conjunction with ENACT, a not-for-profit organization that teaches social skills to young people."
Cultivating Peace in the 21st Century: Ready to Use Student Activities This 60-page pdf is a lesson pack developed for use in Canadian classrooms. It consists of 7 distinct lessons "designed to actively engage secondary school students in the search for a deep understanding of the forces that can bring about tragedies such as the attack on the World Trade Center, and the means by which they can personally contribute to the ongoing search for peaceful coexistence. It provides teachers and administrators with concrete mechanisms for integrating peace education into the curriculum and the school environment."
Training of Teachers in Areas of Armed Conflict This 64-page practice manual was written by Dr. Anica Mikus Kos, a pediatrician and child psychiatrist from Slovenia. It was published as a supplement in the online journal Intervention: International Journal of Mental Health, Psychosocial Work and Counselling in Areas of Armed Conflict, Vol 3 No. 2 ; July 2005
Educating for Peace and from the University: Memorial Anthology of a Decade 488-page pdf in Spanish. The UNESCO Chair in Education for Peace was created in November 1996 from a cooperation agreement between the University of Puerto Rico and the Organization of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). This Anthology provides an overview of the essays and documents developed in the first decade of activity seeking to promote reflection and attention to the problems of violence and hope and to encourage and provide direction for non-violent action towards peaceful coexistence. The Anthology was released on a commemorative CD and as this downloadable pdf.
Steps to address bullying at your school: tips for school administrators Pdf document with advice to school administrators on addressing bullying at school.
1st Report to the Nation on Youth Courts and Teen Courts This national report (43-pages in MS Word format) documents significant highlights and events over a fifteen (15) year period of unprecedented and historic growth of this groundbreaking American juvenile justice prevention and intervention program that utilizes volunteer youth to help sentence their peers. The report begins in 1993, when fewer than seventy-five (75) local youth and teen courts existed in just about a dozen states. The report concludes fifteen (15) years later in 2008, when more than a record 1,000 local communities in 48 states and the District of Columbia now operate these local juvenile justice programs. Historic numbers of youth and adults are now involved, as more than 111,868 juvenile cases were referred to local youth and teen courts and more than 133,832 volunteers to include both youth and adults who volunteered to help with the disposition and sentencing of these juvenile cases.
Youth & conflict: A toolkit for intervention 35-page PDF toolkit which is, "part of a series that explores how development assistance can address key risk factors associated with conflict. One area that is receiving increasing attention is the relationship between young people and violence ... This document: 1) examines key issues related to youth participation in violence; 2) discusses lessons learned in developing programs for at-risk youth; 3) presents a range of program options; 4) includes illustrative monitoring and evaluation tools; and 5) identifies relevant USAID mechanisms and partners. Together, the elements of this toolkit are designed to help raise awareness about the linkages between young people, development aid, and conflict; and to help officers integrate a conflict perspective into their development programming."
Marital and partnership communication Powerpoint presentation discussing communication in relationships: including gender differences, nonverbal communication, marital communication, marital conflict and domestic violence.
Preventing, Assessing and Intervening in Teen Dating Abuse This training guide and related slides and handouts aims to provide school Specialized Instructional Support Personnel with information and skills to identify, assess, effectively intervene in, and prevent teenage dating abuse; as such, it is appropriate for upper middle school and high school communities (and some lower middle school communities). The full training kit with powerpoint and handouts is available at http://safesupportivelearning.ed.gov
CRE vs. violence prevention This document compares Conflict Resolution Education with related violence prevention work.
Something is Wrong - Exploring the Roots of Youth Violence A 382-page pdf curriculum guide addressing violence in the lives of youth. From the introduction:" The Chicago Freedom School, Project NIA and Teachers for Social Justice have partnered along with other volunteers to develop a curriculum guide in order to contribute to the ongoing efforts by young people and their adult allies to analyze the root causes of youth violence and to create local solutions"The authors "wanted to create a curriculum that would provide a holistic view of violence in the lives of young people across a number of arenas. Through this curriculum, we want to challenge youth to think about a) the roots of violence in their lives; b) the enforcers and victims of violence; c) the effects of violence on both victims and perpetrators; and d) how violence can ultimately be minimized through systemic changes."
International Day of Peace Educational Resource Packet This 16-page pdf provides a framework for educating about the culture of peace and offers suggested activities and resources for use on the International Day of Peace. Includes ideas for Elementary, Middle and High School level classrooms.
Real-World Scenarios for Campus Leaders from Divided Community Project Created as part of the Divided Community Project’s Virtual Toolkit, these short hypothetical fact patterns propose several divisive incidents on college and university campuses to be used in training and discussion. The examples discuss a range of important issues. For example, how should university administrators respond to student protests against racial injustice? What role, if any, should campus police play when there is student unrest? What policies should schools consider to ensure student safety/well-being and to protect free speech on campus? These are only some of the questions that are worth discussing. The Divided Community Project encourages campus leaders to carefully think through each example, talk through the steps that one would take, consider relevant questions, and develop actionable plans.