Wyandotte County Kicks Off Youth Violence Prevention Week with celebration that highlights achievements

The annual ThrYve Youth Violence Prevention Week Kickoff Picnic in Wyandotte County on Saturday drew about 150 youth, family members, and community leaders as the first of several events planned and hosted this week by the Youth Violence Prevention Center-Kansas City (YVPC-KC), a project based at the University of Kansas Life Span Institute.

As older youth took turns roughhousing in one of the two bounce houses, younger kids raced through an inflated obstacle course. Nearby, families chatted in line as they waited to order their choice of sandwiches, sides, and sodas.

Showing their support at the event were Christal Watson, Kansas City, Kan., mayor and CEO of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County; Evelyn Hill, District 4 Commissioner; District Court Judge Robert Martinez; and District Attorney Mark Dupree.

“This week gives them a platform to see their impact in real time and recognize that their voices and actions matter,” said Adrian McConnell, research project manager at the YVPC-KC. “It creates space to celebrate the work our young people have been doing, raise awareness about youth violence prevention, and build stronger connections between youth, families, and community partners.”

YVPC-KC director Jomella Watson-Thompson, KU professor of applied behavioral science and researcher with the KU Center for Community Health and Development at the Life Span Institute and associate vice provost for community impact, said events like the kickoff picnic are important for bringing the community together to support the community’s youth.

“If we're talking about problems that were not created overnight, we have to also be talking about how we contribute to collective problem-solving with communities,” Watson-Thompson said.

The YVPC-KC builds upon efforts to address youth violence through another project led by Watson-Thompson focused on supporting youth called ThrYve, or Together Helping Reduce Youth Violence.

The project saw its first class of ThrYve participants graduate college last spring. Since the ThrYve initiative began, Watson-Thompson said the city has seen a 38% decrease in youth homicides through the collective contributions of many partners across the community working to support comprehensive youth violence prevention strategies.

While there are a variety of factors that contribute to the problem of youth violence, many of the factors are ones the communities can work together to change. Food insecurity, for example, can increase both self-directed violence and violence against others, as described in a 2023 article in Trauma Violence Abuse.

The ThrYve Youth and Systems Collaborative is launching youth-led projects this week, including the kickoff forum, community cleanups, collection and organizing of a food pantry with a local non-profit organization to address food insecurity, preparing for a talent show, and other activities the youth have planned.

“We don't have bad young people; we have environments in which young people are not able to thrive,” Watson-Thompson said. “The problem is not within the individual; the problem is within the environment. We come together through youth violence prevention efforts ... to think about, how do we change the environment in which young people live?”

Community partnership is one of the keys to the success of the initiative, according to Watson-Thompson, who has helped bring together 50 groups, organizations and businesses to provide free, year-round mentoring and support to youth and families from middle school through college.

Another component of ThrYve is empowering youth for leadership, Watson-Thompson said. The ThrYve Youth and Systems Collaborative addresses issues in their communities by developing actions designed as change levers — from providing access to positive activities in out-of-school time, to developing youth-designed billboards, to providing ThrYve Care Cards and Bags to hospitalized youth patients of intentional injury.

"The goal of the ThrYve Youth and Systems Collaborative is really to think across settings and places and spaces — how we can move what we call change levers or conditions so that our young people can be safe and supported no matter what aspect of the community they may be in?” Watson-Thompson said.

A forum at the event gave ThrYve students a chance to speak about their experiences and share concerns with Kansas City Mayor Watson and Commissioner Hill, who joined the ThrYve youth collaborative members on stage.

An active question and answer session from youth in the audience to the city leaders at the end of the forum demonstrated the level of engagement from the students. Their questions ranged from inquiries about creating community spaces for playing chess to addressing youth homelessness.

“One of the things I say is our goal for youth violence prevention is to help our young people to see their future self in the present. And to know that they do have a future self,” Watson-Thompson said.

Throughout the week, there are events across the community to engage both youth and the broader community.

There are opportunities for ThrYve students to present their change lever projects, such as a social media campaign to raise awareness and amplify youth voices, a youth-led community clean-up effort, as well as ThrYve high school students reading books to elementary school children. Youth also have collected and donated items through their food drive and developed and cooked recipes to share with others as youth agents of change in their communities.

“Seeing the community show up for our youth and ask for their ideas for change reinforces that this work matters and that we’re not doing it alone. It gives our young people hope and reminds them that there are people who believe in them and are willing to invest in their future,” McConnell said. “It’s powerful to witness and motivates us to keep going.”