What is the Coalition - The Nashville Community Coaltion for Youth Safety is a group of community members that will have the opportunity to contribute their expertise and experiences in order to ensure that the important research questions related to reducing violence among youth 10-24 years of age in Nashville/Davidson County, TN are thoroughly studied. Additionally, they are all committed to sharing the responsibility of decision making for all research, surveillance, programmatic and strategic planning activities for NUPACE.

How it got created - During the planning phase of developing a coalition, it became evident that many of the people and organizations that responded to the invitation to collaborate in this effort to prevent youth violence already work together through other coalitions and partnerships, including: Nashville Prevention Partnership (youth substance abuse), the Interdenominational Ministers Fellowship (social justice, HIV/AIDS), the Peniel Initiative (crime victims services), United Way (planning), family resource centers (neighborhood-based services), the Neighborhoods Resource Center, Nashville Neighborhood Alliance, Metro Public Housing Department Resident Advisory Council, the Nashville Health Disparities Coalition, the Latino Health Coalition, Alignment Nashville, Tying Nashville Together, the National Urban League, etc. In addition, there are several standing youth councils, including the Mayor’s Youth Council, the Metro Public Health Youth Advisory Council, the OASIS Youth Council and the Dream Team Youth Coalition. All of these existing partnerships and coalitions have overlapping goals, activities, and target populations. Community participation has been incorporated into the overall structure of the NUPACE through its formal decision making processes. 

A Snapshot of the Problem: (Source: Metro Police, The Tennessean)