Research
Overview
The Center on Culture, Immigration, and Youth Violence Prevention (the Center) is conducting four research projects:
- An outcome-based evaluation of Roosevelt Village Center
- An examination of the process and context for incorporating school-based violence prevention programs into culturally diverse, resource poor settings
- An analysis of homicide trends in Los Angeles and Oakland, California
- An investigation of youth experiences of neighborhood change in Oakland, California
The Center also offers research opportunities for college students and others in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Roosevelt Village Center (RVC) Evaluation
Located in the Lower San Antonio district of Oakland, California, Roosevelt Village Center (RVC) is an after school program primarily serving Latino and Asian/Pacific Islander youth.
Using an integrated, multicultural theoretical framework to address youth violence, RVC works to prevent problematic behaviors while promoting positive ones. This is done by engaging youth in after school activities and community service and by involving parents.
Led by Thao Le, Ph.D., the evaluation uses community-based, participatory research to examine the effectiveness of RVC’s program. Goals include:
- Develop community capacity to understand and conduct research on youth violence
- Examine RVC’s effectiveness in reducing maladaptive outcomes and increasing pro-social outcomes
- Examine how individual, family, culture, and community influence outcomes
- Explore inter-group differences of individual change
About 200 RVC participants from Roosevelt Middle School and their parent/caretaker will be interviewed two times annually from 2007 to 2009. Two hundred students from a middle school that is not part of RVC will serve as the comparison group. The research team also will conduct a youth experiential sampling project with a subgroup of youth from both schools.
School-Based Violence Prevention Research Project
The School-Based Violence Prevention Research Project, led by Emily Ozer, Ph.D., will help address gaps in the integration of research and practice in school-based violence prevention in urban secondary schools serving immigrant youth and their families.
The project has two aims:
- To understand how schools and districts balance the potentially competing demands of limited resources, “fit” with the cultural backgrounds of the student population, and the push for the use of empirically-supported programs
- To pilot an innovative consultation model to assist schools in balancing these demands
Patterns of Homicide in Oakland and Los Angeles
Sharp inter-city variation in homicide trends is developing in California and is an important target of opportunity for research. Oakland homicide rates have been rising while Los Angeles rates have been declining. Led by Franklin Zimring, J.D., the study focuses on variation in homicide perpetration by age and race/ethnicity, thus informing appropriate interventions to prevent youth violence. The Oakland component developed out of meetings with politicians, community members, and city officials; the Los Angeles component builds on Jim Mercy’s analysis of Los Angeles homicides and is based on Zimring’s study of homicide and crime trends in New York City. The project has obtained monthly homicide totals in LA and Oakland from 1990 through 2005, and researchers plan to collect monthly patterns through 2007. Aaron Blumenthal, UC Berkeley senior, is working with Prof. Zimring on this project.
Youth Experiences of Neighborhood Change
While an extensive body of research documents links between neighborhood characteristics and youth outcomes, including education, health, and delinquency, the effects of neighborhood change on youth are unknown. In the summer of 2008, Jonathan Simon, UC Berkeley Professor of Law, is leading a pilot project, “Youth Violence and Neighborhood Change: New Immigrants in Oakland, California.” The pilot study, funded by the Berkeley Population Center, is focused on the San Antonio neighborhood of Oakland and will be based on interviews with 40 young adults about their experiences from ages 13-21. Findings from the pilot study will be used to apply for additional funding to expand the study to include survey methods and to include gentrifying and stable neighborhoods in West Oakland.
Research & Training Opportunities
The Center offers various research and training opportunities.
- For UC Berkeley graduate students: Youth Violence Prevention Graduate Fellows Program
- For UC Berkeley undergraduate students: University-Community Network Internship Program
- For San Francisco Bay Area residents: Research/Policy Internships, National Council on Crime and Delinquency
For More Information
Contact Chris Tsukida, Research Associate, at (510) 208-0500, ext. 320.
