The Center to Prevent Youth Violence (CPYV), originally known as PAX, was a non-profit organization co-founded in 1998 by Daniel Gross and

Talmage Cooley Talmage Newman Cooley (born in 1965 in Charlottesville, Virginia) is an American filmmaker and social impact founder and advisor. Through his production company Kinoglaz Pictures, he is the writer/director of award-winning narrative and documentar ...

, seeking to end gun violence in America. In 2011, PAX changed its name to The Center to Prevent Youth Violence. The organization merged with the

Brady Campaign Brady: United Against Gun Violence (formerly “Handgun Control, Inc”., the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence) is an American nonprofit organization that advocates for gun control and again ...

in 2012. While

remained on the organization's Board of Trustees until the merger, Daniel Gross became President of the Brady Campaign .

Parent-focused Programs

CPYV created two parent-focused programs aimed at educating parents about simple steps they can take to reduce the risk of violence affecting their children.

ASK

The ASK campaign launched in 2000 in partnership with the American Academy of Pediatrics. The campaign aimed to inform and inspire parents to ask about the presence of firearms in the homes where their children play (i.e. the homes of friends and relatives). In October 2017, the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report after evaluating 16 programs, and found the ASK program to be the only national program that effectively promoted awareness of safe storage.

Suicide-Proof Your Home

The Suicide-Proofing Initiative was launched in September 2011 in partnership with the

Rhode Island Department of Health The Rhode Island Department of Health is a state government agency located in Providence, Rhode Island. The interim Director of the Department of Health is James McDonald, who succeeded Nicole Alexander-Scott in January 2022. Mission The Depa ...

under a youth suicide prevention grant from

SAMHSA The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA; pronounced ) is a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is charged with improving the quality and availability of treatment and rehabilitative services ...

. This program was based on research conducted by the

Harvard School of Public Health The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is the public health school of Harvard University, located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. The school grew out of the Harvard- MIT School for Health Officers, the nation's firs ...

, which illustrated that preventing youth access to lethal means of suicide reduces the likelihood that a young person will die from suicide.

Youth-focused Programs

CPYV believes that young people have the power to prevent violence. The SPEAK UP campaign and hotline give youth the tools and motivation to help keep their communities safe.

Speak Up

The Speak Up Campaign (and its hotline) was launched in 2002 based on the insight that young people who are not involved in violence often have information regarding impending violence. Speak Up encouraged youth to “speak up” about threats of violence they hear about, either by telling an adult who can help or by calling its anonymous, national hotline. The Speak Up program, including its hotline, was discontinued on December 31, 2018.

References

{{reflist Center to Prevent Youth Violence