Countywide Office of Violence Prevention

On February 19, 2019, the LA County Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a motion to officially establish the Office of Violence Prevention (OVP) within the Department of Public Health (DPH). Per the Board Motion, the charge of the office is to improve coordination and support existing efforts across the county to prevent multiple forms of violence, through a renewed focus on prevention, and to ensure that strategies are responsive to community, and trauma informed. One of the first tasks of OVP was to develop an Early Implementation Strategic Plan to identify the initial priorities for OVP implementation that best utilizes existing resources and fosters healing through innovation, coordination, communication, and policy change. Click here to view and download an OVP overview document.

OVP Strategic Plan - View the OVP Strategic Plan here

In the United States we have tended to address violence as an inevitable part of human nature that must be managed through law enforcement. The decision of the Board of Supervisors to house the OVP within the Department of Public Health suggests an alternative view, that violence can be understood much as we understand a preventable disease. The methods used by public health to prevent disease generally operate at the systems level (for example, policies enforcing clean water, workplace safety, or red and green lights to control traffic flow) and the population level (for example vaccines which make people unavailable as hosts to harmful organisms, the universal adoption of seat belts, changes in cultural norms that reduce smoking behavior, health education campaigns that promote hygiene habits to reduce the spread of infection). These same kinds of strategies are applicable when addressing violence.

Violence is not an inevitable part of human life. In fact, forms of violence that we see as everyday events in the United States, including street violence and mass killings, occur far less often or not at all in many parts of the world. There is much we don’t understand about violence. It is clear, however, that violence must be understood in context: that social and economic conditions, system policies and practices, cultural norms, and an individual’s history of trauma interact and influence the trajectory of violence. Economic desperation, social isolation, lack of support, discrimination, and inequality of income and power across groups play important roles in the perpetuation of violence. While we know that violence is related to chronic disease, mental health, and race inequities, our program and service efforts do not reflect the interwoven nature of these issues. Our County and community efforts are often uncoordinated due to a narrow focus on specialty, geography, population or strategy, siloed thinking and fragmented funding. A cultural shift is needed to adequately address the complexity of violence and trauma if we are to reduce the burden of injury, disability, and death that impact those most often exposed to violence.

The OVP Strategic Plan will guide the infrastructure and initial priorities of OVP for the next 5 years. Outlined below is our vision, mission, core values and guiding principles. Please see the OVP Strategic Plan plan for additional data and detailed goals and objectives.

Vision

A violence free LA County where all individuals are safe, healthy and thrive.

Mission

The Office of Violence Prevention works to strengthen coordination, capacity and partnerships to address the root causes of violence, and to advance policies and practices that are grounded in race equity, to prevent all forms of violence and to promote healing across all communities in LA County.

Values

The Office of Violence Prevention works to strengthen coordination, capacity and partnerships to address the root causes of violence, and to advance policies and practices that are grounded in race equity, to prevent all forms of violence and to promote healing across all communities in LA County.

• Inclusiveness & Diversity: We understand that diverse community and survivor knowledge is indispensable to violence prevention and healing efforts. We are dedicated to ensuring that the voices of community members and survivors are central to violence prevention planning, implementation, and evaluation.
• Collaboration: We are committed to providing a meaningful and effective nexus among entities working in violence prevention and trauma informed practice to highlight and build on existing efforts and identify new opportunities for creative joint program, policy and systems change.
• Capacity-Building: We seek to increase the effectiveness of communities and practitioners engaged in violence prevention and healing work by promoting access to resources, identifying best and promising practices, providing training and technical assistance, and serving as a data and information hub.
• Equity & Justice: We name, acknowledge and address racism, discrimination and structural violence. We promote a culture and narrative that rejects stereotyping and victim blaming and prioritizes the needs of marginalized communities.
• Accountability: Our processes, decisions and actions will be transparent and communicated regularly. Data will be culturally relevant, publicly accessible and used consistently to understand the impacts of violence and to measure outcomes to improve practice and achieve our intended results.

Guiding Principles

• Community Engaged We will partner with local stakeholders, community members and survivors to understand the strengths and needs of communities and to gather lessons learned; we will collaborate to identify and implement just, effective and innovative solutions.
• Culturally Inclusive We respect and value the uniqueness of each distinct experience and perspective and will work together to realize the synergistic results produced by integrating the richest possible diverse expressions of identity.
• Grounded in Science We will use data and research to inform our decisions at all levels and to evaluate promising practices that address the needs of individuals, families and communities.
• Trauma-Informed We will engage County and community partners, the County workforce and service providers in our efforts to address the impact of trauma on community members and survivors and to build County systems that serve and support all residents.
• Focus on Upstream Prevention We will focus on prevention and upstream solutions while recognizing and addressing the intersection of all types of violence and multiple health and socio-economic disparities. We will bring multiple sectors together to address shared root causes and the full spectrum of resulting impacts.
• Strength-Based We will work to ensure that the specific strengths and assets of each individual and community are acknowledged and incorporated in our work.
• Youth-Engaged We will build opportunities and infrastructure to engage and empower youth and youth voice to inform policies and programs and to play a leadership role in violence prevention and healing efforts. We will work with partners to incorporate a developmental lens in policies, practices and programs.

We are grateful for the tremendous show of support from stakeholders across the county and from multiple county department in helping to establish the Office of Violence Prevention. We look forward to ongoing conversations to ensure that a wide range of voices and perspectives is incorporated to inform the strategic plan and the work ahead.

If you have questions or comments about OVP or would like to be included in an upcoming listserv, contact us at ovp@ph.lacounty.gov or call 626.293.2610

In 2018, the Board of Supervisors approved the motion, “Addressing the Epidemic of Gun Violence in Our Communities” (Kuehl/Ridley-Thomas, March 13, 2018), to create an integrated Countywide Violence Prevention Initiative. In 2019, the Board passed a follow-up motion, “Supporting Efforts for the Prevention of Violence in Our Communities - Establishing the Office of Violence Prevention” (Kuehl/Ridley-Thomas, February 19, 2019), to officially establish the Los Angeles County (County) Office of Violence Prevention (OVP) housed within the Department of Public Health. The CEO identified at least $6,000,000 in unobligated funding in the Measure B Special Revenue Fund to support the OVP, including funding for OVP operations and for contracts with community organizations in each Service Planning Area (SPA) to provide leadership for local antiviolence efforts.

• March 13, 2018: Motion and Board Statement of Proceedings to develop plan for OVP
• June 15, 2018: DPH Memo to Board
• February 19, 2019: Motion and Board Statement of Proceedings to establish OVP

OVP Launch Event: April 5, 2019

DPH, in a partnership with Supervisorial District 2, and many community and county partners, hosted a public launch event of OVP during Public Health Week. For more information, visit: LA County Highlights Violence Prevention

Eradicating Community Violence: Stopping violence before it starts from Los Angeles County Newsroom

OVP will provide multiple opportunities for a variety of stakeholders to be involved in strategic planning and implementation. The Governance Structure chart can be viewed here.

• A County Leadership Committee was established in January 2019 to facilitate coordination across departments and to guide OVP efforts as well as identify systems change opportunities.
• View County Leadership Committee Charter


• A Community Partnership Council was established in October 2019 to provide infrastructure for community partners across the county and with expertise in multiple forms of violence to facilitate communication between their broader stakeholder networks and OVP and guide strategic planning and implementation. Council members serve a two-year term.
  • View Community Partnership Council Charter

DHR/OVP Workplace Violence Prevention Training Workgroup

In October 2019, the Department of Human Resources (DHR), in partnership with the Department of Public Health (DPH) Office of Violence Prevention (OVP), developed an interdepartmental workgroup in response to July 2019 shooting events in Lancaster, CA; Gilroy, CA; El Paso, TX; and Dayton, OH. The purpose of the Training Workgroup is to create a comprehensive set of training materials and tools that could equip all County staff with the means necessary to:

• 1. Actively prevent violence in the workplace;
• 2. Mitigate the consequences of violence if it occurs including clarification of roles and responsibilities
• 3. Recover and heal after a violent event.

The Workgroup serves as a high-level advisory committee and meets monthly. As a prelude to project efforts, the Workgroup organized a presentation from San Bernardino County in December 2019 to learn about the shooting event in December 2015 that forever changed their Environmental Health Workforce. Twenty-six (26) County Departments participated in a tabletop exercise following the presentation to gather input from the participants on existing and needed resources to support violence prevention in the workplace.

First5LA provided matching funds to DPH to support OVP strategic planning and has contracted with Chapin Hall to do this work. First5LA has also shared information and expertise from the Center for Collective Wisdom to incorporate a trauma informed systems approach into OVP.

• DPH contracted with Prevention Institute to conduct listening sessions across the county and interviews with key informants with expertise in different types of violence.
  
  
  • Stakeholder Perspectives and Recommendations


• DPH is partnering with LA County Commission on Human Relations to incorporate hate violence prevention in OVP strategic planning. On July 17, 2018 the Board of Supervisors passed a motion to protect vulnerable communities from Hate Crimes.


• Blue Shield of California provided funding for a one-year demonstration project to ensure that domestic violence and the voices of survivors are integrated in the development of the OVP strategic plan.


• The LA County Departments of Arts and Culture awarded DPH an Artist in Residence to support OVP engagement and planning.

• March 13, 2019: California Wellness Foundation partnered with DPH to host a convening, Building a Movement for Violence Prevention in LA County, bringing together violence prevention and intervention experts across multiple forms of violence.


• March 18, 2019: Prevention Institute presented their analysis of Stakeholder Perspectives and Recommendations regarding OVP to community partners at Belvedere Park.


• DPH conducted more than 25 stakeholder interviews with organizations dedicated to violence prevention across the county and continues to talk with partners to inform ongoing work of OVP.


• DPH surveyed county departments to understand their current violence prevention efforts and to identify opportunities to align efforts.

DPH is compiling and analyzing a variety of data sources to better understand the impact of multiple forms of violence in LA County and co-occurring facts that contribute to violence. These analyses will help prioritize the work of OVP and determine how best to build infrastructure for data sharing and evaluation.

• View Draft Analysis Plan

Gun Violence Day Press Release

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) recognizes Gun Violence Awareness Day by reminding everyone that gun violence is preventable, and the epidemic of gun violence is one of the most significant public health issues of current times.

In a motion authored by Supervisor Hilda L. Solis, the Board of Supervisors proclaimed June 2, 2019 as Gun Violence Awareness Day joining other jurisdictions in support of research into the causes and solutions to gun violence including policy change at the federal level.

“Violence in all forms is unacceptable but gun violence in particular is an issue of grave concern given its lethality and the daily toll we see in the lives of victims and their family and friends, and in society overall,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MED, Director, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. "Efforts are needed at all levels to address the scourge of gun violence and to create communities where everyone feels safe and can thrive."

For more information and to participate in Gun Violence Awareness Day Activities, visit:

• Louder Than Guns LA: https://www.louderthanguns.org
• Wear Orange: https://wearorange.org
• Everytown for Gun Safety: https://everytown.org/act/
• Prevention Institute: https://www.preventioninstitute.org/focus-areas/preventing-violence-and-reducing-injury/preventing-violence-advocacy