Program to reduce youth violence sees its first class of college graduates

LAWRENCE — Barry Anderson is about to realize a goal he had since elementary school, graduating from the University of Kansas this spring with a degree in journalism with a concentration in sports media. 

Anderson credits a program he joined in high school that grew out of a federally funded KU research project with keeping him focused on reaching his goal. 

He said it all started with a chance encounter in high school.  

“Back in high school, my sophomore year, I was walking down the steps, and I saw this bald guy,” Anderson said, recalling his first encounter with Steve James, a violence prevention staff member of ThrYve, a project administered through the Center for Community Health & Development at the KU Life Span Institute. “He told me all about the program.” 

ThrYve, which stands for Together Helping Reduce Youth Violence for Equity, has supported hundreds of students like Anderson who have found community through this program, which is based on decades of research on what works to reduce youth violence.  

Anderson is among the first cohort of students from the program to earn a college degree. 

Jomella Watson-Thompson, professor of applied behavioral science affiliated with the CCHD and associate vice provost for community impact, developed ThrYve in 2017 to address the problem of youth violence.  

The program received additional support when Watson-Thompson was awarded a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2023. Her work earned the distinction of being one of five federally funded national centers of excellence on youth violence prevention. 

“Traditionally, we think about violence as a criminal justice problem,” she said. “There are components of that we have to consider. But ultimately, it’s also a public health problem.” 

This approach goes toward Watson-Thompson's objective of addressing the problem of youth violence broadly — as a systemic problem in need of community-wide solutions. This is why ThrYve has partnered with more than 50 groups, organizations and businesses to provide free, year-round mentoring and support to youth and families from middle school through college.  

Watson-Thompson, who earned a master’s degree in urban planning before completing her doctorate in behavioral psychology, said this experience has given her an appreciation for how problems and goals within communities impact the people who live there.  

“Our best indicators of success are our young people,” she said. 

“If we want to be able to assure conditions in which all people, including young people, are able to thrive and succeed, that means we have to also look at the factors of the barriers at times that may prevent that.” 

To do that, Watson-Thompson said people have to consider not just the individual factors, but the environmental factors in which young people live, work, play and congregate.  

Wyandotte County, where ThrYve is based, has a higher-than-average racial and ethnic population, with just 37% of residents identifying as white, non-Hispanic — compared to nearly 74% for the rest of Kansas — according to federal census data.  

Anderson said that as a child, he had a different experience than the typical student in neighboring Johnson County, where the poverty rate is nearly 12% lower and the per capita income is more than double what it is in Wyandotte County. 

Much has been written about the connection between poverty, racial disparities impacting economic investment and crime. 

Watson-Thompson said access to education, employment, resources and opportunities can either reduce the risk or increase the likelihood that young people will be able to succeed. 

“We don't have bad young people,” Watson-Thompson said. "We have environments in which young people are not able to thrive. The problem is not within the individual; the problem is within the environment.” 

Anderson said he witnessed violence and crime, including gun violence and fights at school. ThrYve gave Anderson a community, kept him engaged in his education and involved him in work projects after school — all of which helped him focus on his long-term goals.  

That’s a perspective ThrYve leadership works to instill in its students, encouraging them to envision a brighter future than one they may have believed in, as well as providing tools to keep them focused on reaching that dream. 

“Our goal for youth violence prevention is helping our young people to see their future self in the present — and to know that they do have a future self,” Watson-Thompson said.  

As Anderson prepared for life as a college graduate, he reflected on the chance encounter with James, who first connected him to ThrYve.  

“What if I hadn’t gone to school that day?” he said. “I’d probably have still heard about it, because they advertise it a lot at the school. But,” he shrugged, “What if?”