Community-Identified Priorities for Improving Safety in Low-Income Urban Communities Experiencing High Rates of Firearm Violence

The present qualitative study explored perspectives from youth, caregivers, and community partners who lived in or worked with organizations that served two low-income, urban communities exposed to disproportionate rates of firearm violence. The purpose of the study was to (a) identify changes that community members and community partners would like to see in terms of safety, (b) compare the similarities and differences in responses across the three participant groups. Youth (n = 11), caregivers (n = 20), and community partners (n = 41) participated in semi-structured interviews as part of a larger study evaluating community strategies to reduce community-levels of youth violence. Perspectives on changes related to safety were represented across four themes: (1) Changes to policing, (2) Increasing safety, (3) More opportunities for youth and family programs and activities, (4) Structural and resource investments in communities. Overall, qualitative findings offered a context-specific picture of desired areas for change to improve community safety. The results contribute to a framework for community mobilization and have implications for the development of comprehensive community violence prevention initiatives.