With the goal of educating and raising awareness on effective ways to reduce and prevent youth violence, SCY encourages everyone to take action to prevent violence through our Focus on Five:
- Sustained investment in children and youth
- Equitable access to high quality mental health services
- Common sense approaches to gun violence prevention
- Juvenile justice system that reflects what we know about adolescent development
- Sustained investment in strong communities
Download and share SCY's Focus on Five.
What can you do, as individuals and policymakers, to Focus on Five?
Sustained investment in children and youth:
- Policymakers can make a commitment to fund programs and implement laws that will enable our young people to reach their full potential.
- Parents can establish a regular time to check in with your children.
- Everyone can consider becoming a tutor/mentor. Learn more about local opportunities through Tutor/Mentor Connection or the Illinois Mentoring Partnership
Equitable access to high quality mental health services
- Policymakers can ensure that resources are dedicated to allow every Illinois resident to get the mental health care they need.
- Everyone can look out for our family, friends, and neighbors and encourage them to get help when you see signs of trouble. Learn more about the signs and symptoms of mental illness or crisis and how to help by attending a Mental Health First Aid training
Common sense approaches to gun violence prevention
- Policymakers can enact and enforce gun violence prevention policies that have been shown to make a difference, including anti-trafficking laws and enforcement measures and evidence-based approaches to keep guns from dangerous people.
- As individuals, if you must keep a gun in your home, store it unloaded and locked up with a trigger lock or in a gun safe, with the ammunition locked up separately. Learn more or volunteer through the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence
Juvenile justice system that reflects what we know about adolescent development
- Policymakers can recognize that adolescents’ brains are not fully developed and adopt policies that view a child’s involvement with the justice system as an opportunity for intervention to prevent further delinquent behavior.
- Parents can model good behavior and teach children how to resolve conflict appropriately.
- Everyone can get involved in community organizing with Community Organizing and Family Issues
Sustained investment in strong communities
- Policymakers can adopt community and economic development policies to rectify the fact that the toll of violence falls disproportionately on low-income, minority communities.
- Everyone can get involved in your community—Join or start a block club, attend CAPS meetings, volunteer at your local school. Get more information about block clubs at CAPS at home.chicagopolice.org and about schools at cps.edu