Creating a Process for Equitable Action to Prevent School and Community Violence

ABSTRACT

This article presents the Readiness for Solutions to Lower Violence Model (ReSOLV) a model generated from Elinor Ostrom’s Institutional Analysis Framework, as an alternative approach for adopting equitable and evidence-based strategies to reduce violence in schools and communities. The article explores application of the model within the context of three unique study sites from a longitudinal study in California involving one large county urban school district and county, one small city and school district, and one rural city and school district. We review prevailing approaches for responding to school and public safety problems and examine relevant literature on individual, organizational and community readiness to change the status quo in favor of evidence-based solutions. Implications for school safety research and practice are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• School safety
• community safety
• community readiness
• equitable safety

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Adapted from Ostrom, E. (2005) A Framework for Institutional Analysis. P. 15.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) under Grant 2016-CK-BX-K001. Opinions in this article are those of the authors and not the official position of NIJ or the U.S. Department of Justice.

Notes on contributors

Patricia Campie

Patricia Campie is a Principal Researcher at American Institutes for Research. Her research interests involve evidence and evaluation capacity building to prevent armed conflict and violence in the U.S. and abroad.

Anthony Peguero

Anthony Peguero is a Professor of Criminology & Sociology at Arizona State University. His research interests involve youth violence and school safety. Dr. Peguero is a member of Latina/o/x Criminology and Racial Democracy, Crime, and Justice Network and which hold the goals of advancing research on the intersection of race, crime, equity, and justice.

Jonathan Scaccia

Jonathan Scaccia is the Founder and Principal at Dawn Chorus Group. His research interests as an implementation scientist focus on utilizing scientific findings and data at all levels, to infuse research evidence into program and practice cycles.

Allyson Pakstis

Allyson Pakstis is a Researcher at American Institutes for Research. Her research interests include intergenerational family and community trauma, positive youth development, human services delivery, and violence prevention.

Brittany Cook

Brittany Cook is a Senior Managing Partner of the Wandersman Center. Her research focuses on differences in organizational readiness, including variations by individuals’ roles and levels of engagement in an innovation, as well as change management for readiness strategies.