What this resource explains
This map shows how a young man facing violence can connect to safety, housing, care, opportunity, and trusted relationships. Each layer adds the partners who can help.
An Office of Violence Prevention or Office of Neighborhood Safety can bring those partners together, settle who does what, and check that the support reaches him. The young man helps shape the plan.
The map is an illustrative coordination exercise, not a list of agencies that every community must copy. One office may convene the work, but the young person and trusted people around him have to shape which supports are acceptable. A referral only counts as a connection when the receiving partner can act and someone confirms what happened.
If housing is the immediate barrier to safety, the partners need to know who can authorize a placement, where the person can go tonight, and what happens if the first option fails. The same map should expose missing capacity rather than hide it behind another arrow. Use the gaps to change contracts, hours, eligibility rules, or coordination.
Layer 4 · the coordination job
Make sure help reaches him.
An Office of Violence Prevention (OVP) or Office of Neighborhood Safety (ONS) connects this work across public safety, public health, housing, schools, and community partners. It needs the authority, staff, and agreements to solve problems between services. The young man helps shape the plan; a trusted worker stays connected to him.
Close the gap
A referral is not a completed service. Confirm the appointment, ride, placement, or next contact. If it falls through, name who finds another route.
Stop the repeat work
Agree on one lead for each need. Reuse information only with permission and a clear purpose. Two services can complement each other without doing the same job twice.
Break the cycle
Pair immediate safety and conflict interruption with housing, healing, connection, and opportunity. Keep checking whether threats and repeat harm are going down.
Share only what each partner needs, with consent and lawful authority. Care and outreach records should not become a shared police intelligence list. OVP/ONS can review service gaps using information that does not identify individuals.
Match the response to the need
The right responder for the right call.
Urgent injury or overdose
EMS and emergency care.
Immediate threat requiring law enforcement
Police, with medical response when needed.
Behavioral health crisis
A qualified crisis team when safe and appropriate; emergency services when immediate danger requires them.
Conflict, retaliation risk, or unmet basic needs
Trusted CVI outreach and the relevant support provider. Safety checks determine whether other responders are needed.
OVP/ONS helps partners agree on routing and handoffs. It does not replace emergency dispatch, clinical judgment, or each responder’s role.
Use the public health approach
Learn, act, check, and improve.
Use what happens in individual cases to spot problems across the community. If several young people cannot get housing or follow-up care, fix that service gap—not just the next referral.
- 01
Define
Find where harm is happening, who is affected, and what people say they need.
- 02
Identify
Find the risks, the existing strengths, and the gaps in support.
- 03
Implement
Choose approaches with evidence, test them locally, and assign people and resources.
- 04
Evaluate
Check results and lived experience. Improve what falls short; expand what works.
Evaluation feeds the next round: define the remaining problem and adjust the plan.
How this connects to the CDC model
This is ICM’s plain-language working loop. CDC’s four steps are to define and monitor the problem; identify risk and protective factors; develop and test prevention strategies; and assure widespread adoption. Testing, evaluation, and improvement belong throughout the work. Read the CDC approach.
All six connections
Who brings what to the plan?
These are suggested partner roles, not a statement that every agency has the same legal duties. The named organizations are examples from different communities; they are not one local team. Confirm service area, age eligibility, and availability before making a referral.
1.Threats & recent violence
He was recently assaulted. Threats are still coming, and people around him are pushing him to retaliate.
Public services
Emergency services
EMS handles urgent injuries. Police respond to immediate threats that require law enforcement.
Victim services
Explain available support and help him apply for assistance he may qualify for.
Community partners
CVI outreach team
Use trusted relationships to reduce conflict and stay in contact. CVI means community violence intervention.
Hospital violence intervention program
Connect care after an injury with safety planning and support after discharge.
Build protection: A safety plan, treatment for injuries, and someone trusted who can help stop the conflict.
Example: Youth ALIVE! · Oakland.
2.No safe place to stay
He moves between couches and sometimes returns to the same place where the conflict is happening.
Public services
Housing department / housing authority
Arrange or fund housing options and explain eligibility and openings.
Human services
Help with benefits, food, identification, and other basic needs.
Community partners
Youth housing organization
Offer shelter or housing support within its service area and eligibility rules.
Housing navigator
Help with applications, documents, transportation, and staying connected while he waits.
Build protection: A stable place to sleep, food, and a way to get to appointments safely.
Example: Urban Peak · Denver.
3.Grief & distress
He has lost someone close, is sleeping poorly, and feels on edge. He has no regular support for what he has been through.
Public services
Behavioral health agency
Connect him to qualified care and a mobile crisis team when appropriate.
Public health / health coverage programs
Help remove cost and access barriers to ongoing care.
Community partners
Community counseling provider
Offer qualified care that fits his needs, background, and preferences.
Survivor and peer-support groups
Make space for grief and connection alongside professional care when needed.
Build protection: Care he can trust, help handling stress, and people who will stay connected through recovery.
Example: Black Mental Health Alliance · Baltimore-based.
4.Using substances to cope
He is using alcohol or other drugs to get through the day. That adds another safety concern to the conflict and distress he is already facing.
Public services
Public health department
Support overdose prevention and connections to harm-reduction services.
Behavioral health agency
Arrange assessment and treatment options; EMS handles an overdose or other medical emergency.
Community partners
Harm-reduction organization
Help reduce immediate health risks and connect him to care without judgment.
Recovery and peer-support organization
Offer ongoing support and help navigating treatment options.
Build protection: Low-barrier support, overdose prevention, and access to treatment and recovery support when he is ready.
Example: Harm Reduction Action Center · Denver.
5.School & work cut off
He has stopped attending school and has no steady work. He sees few realistic ways to earn money or move forward.
Public services
School district / adult education
Plan a return to learning, credit recovery, or another education route that fits his age.
Workforce agency
Connect eligible young adults to paid training, job support, and local employers.
Community partners
Youth employment organization
Provide coaching, employer connections, and help getting ready for work.
Education and re-engagement partner
Help with enrollment, tutoring, transportation, and staying involved.
Build protection: A workable route back to learning, paid opportunities, and a goal he helped choose.
Example: Urban Peak · education & employment · Denver.
6.Few trusted supports
Most of the people he spends time with are caught in the conflict. He has few safe places or trusted adults to turn to.
Public services
Parks & recreation
Make safe spaces, sports, and activities easier to access.
Youth and family services
Connect him and the people he trusts to practical family and youth support.
Community partners
Mentoring and youth organizations
Build consistent relationships and help him find a safe circle of support.
Neighborhood, faith, and sports groups
Offer connection and shared activities that he wants to take part in.
Build protection: Dependable relationships, safe activities, and a real place to belong.
Example: Fully Liberated Youth (F.L.Y.) · Denver, Colorado · Mentoring and supportive relationships for incarcerated, formerly incarcerated, and high-risk young people.
The example combines an immediate safety situation with selected CDC youth violence risk and protective factors. Risk factors are not proof that someone will commit violence, and being harmed is never the victim’s fault. Partner connections are ICM’s planning examples, informed by the OJP overview of community violence intervention (archived). Organization links describe their own services.
CDC factor list
What the CDC actually names
These examples come from the CDC’s youth violence prevention page. They are signals for prevention planning, not labels for people or communities.
SOCIETAL
CDC’s broader social-ecological level; the youth factor page does not list a separate societal factor set.
The CDC uses this level to describe the norms, policies, and economic, educational, and social conditions that can encourage or inhibit violence. Treat it as a leadership and policy lens, then test local assumptions with data and community knowledge.
COMMUNITY
Conditions that can raise or lower the likelihood of youth violence.
RISK
- Communities with high rates of violence and crime
- Diminished economic opportunities
- High unemployment rates
- High concentrations of poor residents
- Unstable housing and frequent resident moves
- Few community activities for young people
- Low levels of community participation
- Socially disorganized neighborhoods
PROTECTIVE
The CDC page does not provide a separate list at this level. That is a prompt for local partners to identify and measure the protective conditions their community can strengthen.
RELATIONSHIP
Conditions that can raise or lower the likelihood of youth violence.
RISK
- Authoritarian child-rearing attitudes
- Harsh, lax, or inconsistent disciplinary practices
- Low parental education and income
- Parental substance abuse or criminality
- Poor family functioning
- Poor monitoring and supervision of children
- Association with delinquent peers
- Involvement in gangs
- Social rejection by peers
- Poor academic performance
- Low commitment to school and school failure
PROTECTIVE
- Connectedness to family or adults outside the family
- Ability to discuss problems with parents
- High parental expectations for school performance
- Frequent shared activities with parents
- Consistent presence of a parent during key daily routines
- Strong, close, prosocial relationships at school
- School climates with supervision, clear rules, firm discipline, and parent and teacher engagement
INDIVIDUAL
Conditions that can raise or lower the likelihood of youth violence.
RISK
- History of violent victimization
- Attention deficits, hyperactivity, or learning disorders
- Involvement with drugs, alcohol, or tobacco
- Poor behavioral control
- Deficits in social cognitive or information-processing abilities
- High emotional distress
- History of treatment for emotional problems
- Antisocial beliefs and attitudes
- Exposure to violence and conflict in the family
PROTECTIVE
- High IQ
- High grade point average
- High educational aspirations
- Highly developed social skills and competencies
- Religious beliefs
Use the map in the room
Turn a factor list into a leadership decision.
For a mayor’s office
Choose two or three conditions the city can influence, name the department and community partner responsible for each one, and align funding, policy, and measurement around the work.
For decisions across agencies and community partners
Do not turn the list into a fight between personal responsibility and structural conditions. Hold both: ask what is happening at each level, what each partner can change, and what the plan will do when the first strategy is not enough.
Source: CDC Youth Violence Prevention: Risk and Protective Factors, reviewed September 22, 2026. The broader social-ecological framing is from CDC About Violence Prevention.
ICM agency-to-factor map
The condition may be shared. The responsibility cannot be vague.
Use this as a working map for public agencies and community organizations. It shows where different partners can influence the conditions connected to violence, suicide, substance misuse, and other forms of harm.
This is a coordination tool, not a claim that one department can solve a factor alone. The point is to identify who can influence it, who has trust with the people most affected, and what shared result needs to be measured.
Filter the map
Choose a harm area to narrow the map.
Showing 10 of 10 shared conditions
Showing every shared condition.
Housing stability
Risk signal
Unstable housing, frequent moves, displacement, and homelessness increase stress and interrupt access to care, school, work, and trusted relationships.
Protective condition
Stable, affordable housing with rapid help when a household is at risk of eviction or displacement.
Public agencies
- •Housing and community development
- •Human services
- •Public health
- •Behavioral health
Community organizations
- •Tenant and housing organizations
- •Mutual-aid groups
- •Community development organizations
- •Survivor-service providers
Economic opportunity
Risk signal
Unemployment, low wages, debt, and limited pathways to meaningful work can narrow a person's options and increase strain.
Protective condition
Paid work, career pathways, reliable transportation, education, and income supports that make a safer future reachable.
Public agencies
- •Workforce and economic development
- •Human services
- •Education
- •Reentry and probation
Community organizations
- •Employers
- •Workforce nonprofits
- •Unions and worker centers
- •Reentry organizations
- •Faith communities
Youth connection and opportunity
Risk signal
School failure, social rejection, few meaningful activities, and weak adult connection leave young people with fewer safe places to belong and grow.
Protective condition
Strong school relationships, trusted adults, high expectations, structured activities, and real routes to achievement.
Public agencies
- •Schools and districts
- •Parks and recreation
- •Youth and family services
- •Public health
Community organizations
- •Youth organizations
- •Mentors
- •Sports and arts groups
- •Credible messengers
- •Parent and caregiver groups
Family support and supervision
Risk signal
Family conflict, inconsistent discipline, limited supervision, and caregiver stress can weaken protection during high-risk moments.
Protective condition
Connected families, trusted adults outside the family, communication, consistent routines, and practical support for caregivers.
Public agencies
- •Human services and child welfare
- •Schools
- •Public health
- •Family resource centers
Community organizations
- •Parent networks
- •Family-support organizations
- •Faith communities
- •Neighborhood groups
- •Peer mentors
Behavioral health and emotional distress
Risk signal
Unaddressed emotional distress, trauma, isolation, and barriers to care can increase risk and reduce a person's ability to use available support.
Protective condition
Accessible, culturally responsive behavioral health care; trusted relationships; crisis response; and continuity after the immediate crisis.
Public agencies
- •Behavioral health
- •Public health
- •Hospitals and EMS
- •Schools
- •Human services
Community organizations
- •Community mental-health providers
- •Peer-support groups
- •Survivor organizations
- •Community health workers
- •Faith leaders
Substance use and overdose risk
Risk signal
Untreated substance use, overdose exposure, criminalization, and disconnected services can compound health and safety risks.
Protective condition
Low-barrier treatment, harm reduction, recovery support, naloxone access, and warm handoffs that continue after the first contact.
Public agencies
- •Public health
- •Behavioral health
- •Hospitals and EMS
- •Human services
- •Courts and probation
Community organizations
- •Harm-reduction organizations
- •Recovery community organizations
- •Peer navigators
- •Treatment providers
- •Culturally specific providers
Firearm access and lethal-means safety
Risk signal
Easy access to a firearm during a crisis, unsafe storage, and gaps in temporary transfer or risk-response systems can increase the likelihood that a crisis becomes fatal.
Protective condition
Secure storage, trusted conversations, timely crisis support, responsible transfer options, and systems that connect people to help before harm occurs.
Public agencies
- •Public health and violence prevention
- •Hospitals and behavioral health
- •Law enforcement
- •Courts
- •Veteran services
Community organizations
- •Firearm owners and retailers
- •Safe-storage organizations
- •Survivor and family groups
- •Credible messengers
- •Faith communities
Violence exposure and retaliation
Risk signal
Repeated exposure, unresolved grief, retaliation pressure, and weak post-incident support can keep harm moving through a network.
Protective condition
Rapid response, credible messengers, victim services, conflict interruption, trauma recovery, and support for the people closest to the incident.
Public agencies
- •Public safety
- •Hospitals
- •Public health
- •Human services
- •Schools
- •Victim services
Community organizations
- •CVI organizations
- •Credible messengers
- •Survivor and family organizations
- •Faith communities
- •Neighborhood leaders
Trust, fairness, and participation
Risk signal
People disengage when systems are unpredictable, disrespectful, inaccessible, or designed without the people carrying the consequences.
Protective condition
Transparent decisions, procedural fairness, shared information, community authority, and visible follow-through when people raise concerns.
Public agencies
- •Mayor or city manager
- •Public safety
- •Public health
- •Courts
- •Schools
- •Human services
Community organizations
- •Resident councils
- •Advocacy organizations
- •Faith communities
- •Youth councils
- •Community-based organizations
Healing, recovery, and belonging
Risk signal
Unresolved trauma, isolation, stigma, and fragmented recovery support leave people carrying harm without a reliable path forward.
Protective condition
Long-term healing, peer connection, culturally responsive care, restorative opportunities, and places where people can contribute and belong.
Public agencies
- •Public health
- •Behavioral health
- •Hospitals
- •Schools
- •Parks and recreation
- •Human services
Community organizations
- •Survivor organizations
- •Peer-support networks
- •Faith and cultural organizations
- •Arts and recreation groups
- •Community healing practitioners
Full field map
Take the agency map into the planning meeting.
The downloadable version adds a table you can use in the meeting, a partner-role worksheet, and prompts for assigning an owner, a community partner, and a measure to each priority condition.
- Use it with a mayor’s office, public-health team, or a group of agencies and community partners.
- Use it with community partners to test whether the map reflects lived reality.
- Leave with named responsibility instead of another shared list.
Unlock the downloadable map
Work it through
Test one route through the support system
Use a fictional or consented case. Keep personal details out of shared notes. The person receiving support should help define a useful and acceptable pathway.
What to leave with: A support route with a lead, confirmed connections, and a visible system gap.
What does the person identify as urgent? What danger needs an immediate response and what support can wait?
Who can provide safety, housing, care, opportunity, and trusted connection now? Confirm eligibility, hours, capacity, and the person's preference.
Who holds the plan with the person? Who accepts each handoff and how will completion be confirmed?
If a partner cannot act, who provides the fallback today? Which rule, resource, or missing relationship created the gap?
Who can change that gap, by when, and how will the group check that later people no longer face it?
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This worksheet helps organize a decision. It does not replace a local assessment, safety and privacy protocols, legal review where needed, or implementation planning with the people affected.
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From this idea to a local decision
Use the part you need next. A guest’s account, research finding, local pattern, and implementation plan answer different questions.
Understand the concept
Social Determinants of Health
The conditions in which people live, learn, work, and age that shape health and exposure to violence.
Read the referenceCheck the evidence
Resource & Evidence
Define the type of harm and place, inspect the data, and check what research can and cannot establish.
Examine sourcesBring the right people together
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Get help turning this question into a local plan, training, or leadership decision.
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