Annual nationwide initiative unites student leaders and adults to raise awareness and prevent violence
NEWTOWN, Conn — Students from around the United States will join efforts this week to raise awareness and learn how to stop youth violence during National Youth Violence Prevention Week (April 22-26, 2024), the annual call-to-action campaign led by Students Against Violence Everywhere (SAVE) Promise Clubs, an initiative of Sandy Hook Promise.
This week-long, nationwide initiative is a youth-led effort to create safer neighborhoods and schools by bringing communities together to stop youth violence. Schools and communities will engage in student-led initiatives, including poetry and art contests, social media campaigns, field days and more, all aimed at helping youth and trusted adults learn the importance of being upstanders, recognize warning signs, and prevent tragedies.
“Students are on the frontlines of the gun violence epidemic, and it’s critical that they are supported in their leadership to make our schools and communities safer” said Nicole Hockley, co-founder and CEO of Sandy Hook Promise, and mother of Dylan who was killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. “Sandy Hook Promise is empowering our youth leaders in our SAVE Promise Clubs with the tools to be agents of change, including learning and responding to warning signs. Our life-saving programming can help to prevent tragedies and it’s imperative that youth have trusted adults they can rely on.”
National Youth Violence Prevention Week kicks off with the National SAVE Promise Club Youth Summit in Charlotte, NC on April 20, an annual event that brings together more than 400 student leaders, advisors, and advocates across 20 states to share successful practices and effective programs to mitigate youth violence and enshrine school safety. Through youth-led workshops, peer-to-peer presentations, group activities and special guest speakers, the National SAVE Promise Club Youth Summit aims to encourage, educate, engage, and empower youth to look out for one another and prevent violence.
Staff and educators interested in hosting National Youth Violence Prevention activities in their schools can utilize Sandy Hook Promise’s Youth Leader Action Kit for examples of events and activities to engage one’s community or school.
More than a dozen organizations are partnering in the National Youth Violence Prevention Week campaign including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers, the American School Counselors Association, the Children’s Mental Health Network, and the Los Angeles County Office of Education.
To date, more than 23 million people nationwide have participated in Sandy Hook Promise’s proven “Know the Signs” programs including Say Something, focusing on prevention to help end the epidemic of gun violence by training youth and adults to recognize at-risk behavior and how to intervene to get help. Through these evidence-informed programs, Sandy Hook Promise has saved more than 650 young lives from suicide and averted at least 16 credible planned school shooting attacks, among countless other acts of violence.
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Sandy Hook Promise (SHP) envisions a future where all children are free from school shootings and other acts of violence. As a national nonprofit organization, SHP’s mission is to educate and empower youth and adults to prevent violence in schools, homes, and communities. Creators of the life-saving, evidence-informed “Know the Signs” prevention programs, SHP teaches the warning signs of someone who may be in crisis, socially isolated, or at-risk of hurting themselves or others and how to get help. SHP also advances school safety, youth mental health, and responsible gun ownership at the state and federal levels through nonpartisan policy and partnerships. SHP is led by several family members whose loved ones were killed in the tragic mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012.
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