Think Creative - Issue 3

Through community improvement projects, police and citizens have collaborated to make city streets colorful and welcoming and safe public spaces for all.

Students in an air conditioning repair class examine their equipment at a FORMATE workforce training center.

Young musicians prepare for rehearsal with their philharmonic orchestra, one of the project’s many activities for the community’s youth.

“In the end, we all work to create and generate the conditions and spaces for healthy recreation and to generate smiles in each of the kids of the community.”

Two tandem philosophies guide these efforts of the Crime and Violence Prevention Project to create what is known as a place-based, public health approach. Viewing violence as a public health risk much like a disease, the project uses data to define and diagnose the problem, identify and evalu- ate levels of risk for violent behavior, imple- ment treatment or interventions and evaluate the results. To interrupt the spread of violence, the project focuses on youth at three levels of risk – the general population living in a dangerous area, those most at risk for participating in violence, like Alexis, and juvenile offenders on the path to rehabilitation and reintegration. And by targeting strategic hotspots of vio- lence like Cojutepeque, the project can more effectively reduce violence nationwide starting at the local level. It brings together citizens, national government and city officials, police, youth, the private sector and the media. “Severe gang-related violence deeplymarks everyday life in semi-rural Cojutepeque,” says Javier Calvo, Chief of Party for the project. “To address violencemore effectively, we believe that our efforts must be rooted in amultilevel

– Magdalena Magaña, public space recovery coordinator

tion of its more than 40 prevention tools as part of six interactive strategies that address everything from a lack of jobs to limited local capacity to track and prevent crime. Now in its sixth year, more than 98,600 Sal- vadorans have participated in project initia- tives, including 1,444 youngmusicians playing in neighborhood philharmonics instead of spending idle time on the streets; more than 29,200 youth beneficiaries and 1,700 volun- teers keeping neighborhood Outreach Centers buzzing; and 1,558members of Municipal Crime and Violence Prevention Committees leading community security initiatives.

Transforming abandoned spaces into parks is a community-wide effort. Here, a young resident finishes painting for a park’s opening.

and evidence-based strategy that promotes bottom-up community engagement, where the general public can work together with the po- lice, local leaders and other stakeholders to col- lectively develop strategies to lower risk factors and increase resilience and social cohesion.” Based on a municipality’s needs, the project supports local leaders to deploy a combina-

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