Strategic Planning Toolkit for Communities
Benefits of Forum Plans
- Address critical problems that no single agency can solve alone.
- Identify areas in which funds and time can be better spent.
- Build partnerships for planning and implementation. People will support what they help create.
- Build the city’s capacity for local data sharing and analysis.
- Improve outcomes for youth and neighborhoods through coordinated strategies.
- Give potential funders confidence in the city’s commitment to collaboration.
- Develop strategies to sustain the city’s reductions in youth violence over time.
Make a Plan
Youth violence is directly tied to a city’s quality of life, economic health, and potential growth. Across the country, cities using the Forum’s comprehensive approach are working to reduce youth violence. These cities are using multi-disciplinary partnerships that develop and implement strategic plans driven by local data, with a combination of prevention, intervention, enforcement, and reentry strategies. Based on evaluated efforts over the past 20 years, integrated, multi-year plans represent a locality’s best chance to sustainably reduce youth violence over time.
Most cities already engage in some level of formal planning for youth development and violence prevention, and for enforcement responses to youth and gang violence. Integrating these plans can improve outcomes for youth, and for the city as a whole. By developing comprehensive strategies that engage multiple partners, cities can take best advantage of their assets and resources.
We invite you to use the Forum’s new Strategic Planning Toolkit as you develop—or revisit—your city’s plan(s) to prevent and respond to youth violence.
Download the Strategic Planning Toolkit (PDF, 30 Pages)