Preventing Youth Violence & Promoting Positive Youth Development
About the Advisory Council
The Wilmington Community Advisory Council, a diverse group of state and local stakeholders, was created in 2016 to address youth gun violence based on the 2015 CDC Report. The Council serves as a convener, broker and advocate for addressing the root causes of gun violence, e.g. toxic stress and trauma, behavioral health, unemployment, and neighborhood safety. It does this by bringing together community organizations and coalitions and connecting them to needed expertise and resources. In addition it advocates for policy changes that remove barriers. The long-term intent is to harness the power of partnerships to improve practices and policies that can have sustainable impact on reducing gun violence and promoting opportunities for positive development among our youth, and helping our communities to become more resilient.
Progress
In January of 2017, the Advisory Council launched POWER, which stands for People and Organizations in Wilmington Engaging in Reform. This community engagement strategy is designed to harness the individual and collective POWER of people and over 60 community partner organizations in Wilmington who are committed to preventing youth violence and promoting positive youth development.