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| The Savings of PeaceThe Challenge: develop innovative policies that support and increase the success of community violence prevention programs. Important Progressive: accomplishing this challenge will contribute directly and specifically to the progressive values embodied by Roosevelt's Statement of Principles A 2004 World Health Report estimated the cost of interpersonal violence in the United States (excluding war-related costs) at $300 billion per year. In our country alone, a violent crime is committed every 23.1 seconds. In addition to the deep emotional costs to families and youth from violence, the government expends billions of dollars on medical services for victims and loses tax revenue from the loss of productivity and wages when victims leave the workforce. But who loses the most? The youth of America. Children watch as parents are stuck in a cycle of violence and desperation, youth join gangs looking for respect, family and support, and thousands of students do not attend school each day from fear of bullying or violence. But there exists a light at the end of this tunnel. Organizations and programs around the country are focusing on violence prevention methods that save lives and money. For instance, Providence, RI was one of the only large cities in the United States to see a decrease in violent crime over the last year, in part due to the programs such as the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence, which works to prevent youth and gang violence within the city. Many prisoner rehabilitation programs, when funded, have proven their ability to reduce rates of recidivism and help participants to successfully reintegrate into society after being convicted of a crime. But the change effected by these prevention programs will not be sustainable without increased funding and structural support from the government and local communities. Innovative We're looking for policy challenges where innovation is needed: where there isn't already a clear solution or best practices, but solutions can be developed creatively. Our goal is to develop options, not to lobby or advocate for a solution that is already known or to debate among several yes or no outcomes or pre-defined policy choices. Other organizations do the important work of debating and lobbying, that's just not our place in the process. While many programs are positively affecting the lives of citizens across the country, their methods are conducted in a fragmented manner. At this point there is no practical way to increase transparency and communication to support partnership on issues of development, implementation, assessment and funding of violence reduction programs. As a country we simply react to violence instead of preventing it. This is comparable to creating health by treating illness. What if a doctor simply told a patient to eat lots of junk food, sit on a couch all day and smoke cigarettes- and then offer to treat the illnesses as they develop? While the health industry has made progress in their prevention methods, America has seen little in similar advances when addressing issues of violence. Millions of lives were saved with the implementation of vaccinations; it is time to take the same approach with violence! After several school shootings in the fall of 2006, President Bush called for a mosaic of programs that represented the best practices for preventing such tragic incidents. Communities need policies that support that claim in order to better protect their health and economic status. Successful and sustainable violence prevention programs would save our country billions of dollars. Peace cannot be created as we wait to react to violence. Only through proactive measures will our country begin to see a decrease in the violence that holds back youth and communities. We all want peace, the true question is: how? This is our opportunity to step up and develop policies that are based on a true and thorough diagnosis of the root causes of violence in our communities. Feasible Approachable: given the level of research and discourse already available and given who else is working on the issue, college students with a range of experience levels and with varied types of expertise can contribute meaningfully to the debate and are likely to think of good ideas. We don't want something so technical only engineering majors can contribute to it, or something that is already dominated by another think tank or advocacy organization. Potential ideas and policies include: -Increased gang violence prevention programs -Increasing the use of programs that facilitate discussion and understanding between youth CommentsThis is great. I think it nicely ties in international stuff and domestic stuff also -- there's a lot of this in democracy promotion, peacekeeping, civic development, infrastructure-building, anti genocide stuff, etc. -- all very pressing issues in international relations. And it's a decent way to approach it, a lot of foreign policy stuff is tough for college students to work on but this seems to incorporate a lot more sort of common sense, innovation, and human experience and less strategic training or diplomatic knowledge. I might make this a "domestic and abroad" thing. Also it might be better to select at Hyde Park than the expo... |
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