This session will focus on the critical challenge of building and sustaining a statewide movement for preventing all forms of interpersonal violence, including family violence (child abuse, domestic violence and elder abuse); youth violence; gang and gun violence; sexual assault; and hate violence. The presenter will make the case that the long term goal of preventing and significantly reducing violence in Illinois cannot be accomplished without approaching the violence prevention field as a system that needs local and state infrastructures to develop, sustain, grow, and ensure the effectiveness of that system. A public health and public safety approach to violence prevention will be outlined that calls for comprehensive, collaborative and multi-disciplinary engagement in best practices, systems-building and cultural change.

Session participants will receive Building a Safe Illinois: A State Plan for Violence Prevention, prepared by the Illinois Violence Prevention Authority, and will explore the nature and scope of violence in Illinois; risk, protective and other factors associated with interpersonal violence; best practices in violence prevention; and the mission, purpose and activities of the Illinois Violence Prevention Authority. Participants will also discuss what their professions and organizations can do to become active in building the violence prevention movement in Illinois.