Preface

In the late 1980s, both the Centers for Disease Control and the Surgeon General issued alarming reports indicating that violence had become a serious public health problem in the United States. By the time The California Wellness Foundation (TCWF) was established in 1992, gun violence had become the number-one killer of California youth. This frightening reality prompted the Foundation to launch the Violence Prevention Initiative (VPI) – a 10-year, $60 million comprehensive grantmaking program dedicated to preventing violence against youth through a range of statewide prevention efforts.

Initiated in 1993 as a part of the Violence Prevention Initiative, the California Peace Prize was established as the Foundation’s first leadership recognition program. The Prize has outlasted the life of the Initiative and served as a model for many of the Foundation’s other leadership programs. Based on an idea of Andrew McGuire, executive director of The Trauma Foundation in San Francisco, California, the California Peace Prize honors the violence prevention efforts of three individuals annually with $25,000 grants. Past honorees have included community activists, gang-members-turned-peace-advocates, educators, law enforcement officers, bereaved parents and juvenile court judges — and they are representative of hundreds of others who work every day to prevent violence in their communities.

Julio Marcial, communications officer at the Foundation, has been responsible for many of the communications efforts related to the California Peace Prize over the past few years, and as author of this edition of Reflections, he provides an overview of how the Foundation’s investment in telling the stories of these extraordinary individuals has paid large dividends — in terms of furthering the honorees’ work and advancing public policies to prevent violence in California.

TCWF employs an array of communications tactics — including publications, media relations, print and web-based advertising, video productions and targeted mailings to policymakers — to amplify the voices of the honorees. In an effort to counter the excessive media coverage of the traumatic effects of violence that seems to portray this problem as inevitable, we strive to present a persuasive case for utilizing a public health approach to violence — framed as a preventable problem that can be effectively addressed by empowering individuals and communities to reduce the risk factors that lead to violent behavior.

In media outlets across California, hundreds of newspaper, radio, TV and web spots have told the stories of the California Peace Prize honorees’ work, reinforcing the message that violence is preventable and showing that individuals can make a difference. Honorees have reported that the media coverage and outreach to policymakers has resulted in invitations to work with elected officials on panels and commissions addressing violence prevention, and noted increased interest from potential volunteers, donations and other forms of support.

We hope this document will be useful both to those considering investing in leadership recognition and to those committed to violence prevention. We encourage your comments and feedback.

Gary L. Yates, President and CEO
The California Wellness Foundation

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