Streetworkers Mediate Gang Violence and Connect Teens to Health Services in Lowell, Mass.
Increasing access to primary health care and mental health services by Asian youth
From 2003 to 2007, the United Teen Equality Center hired two outreach workers who worked with members of seven of the most active Southeast Asian youth gangs in Lowell, Mass., to reduce violence and improve teens' access to health care. These outreach workers—who the center calls streetworkers—mediated conflicts between gangs, sponsored events and activities to promote peace and coordinated with the police and other partners to address gang violence. To increase the use of health services, streetworkers connected teenagers with community health organizations. The center also sponsored a health fair and health workshops.
The project was part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Local Funding Partnerships—formerly Local Initiative Funding Partners—which provides matching grants for innovative community-based projects aimed at improving the health and health care of underserved and vulnerable populations.
Key Results:
- Streetworkers helped mediate more than 300 conflicts between gangs. More than 90 percent of the mediations resolved the conflict during the project period.
- About 40 teenagers attended at least one of six peace summits, in which members of rival gangs signed a peace treaty. No major incidents of violence between members of the gangs who participated in these summits followed during the project period.
- 118 teenagers received mental health counseling and 66 received primary care services.
- 78 teenagers enrolled in health insurance.
RWJF Local Funding Partnerships Project Results
Individual project results from the national program, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Local Funding Partnerships
Read the Program Results for RWJF Local Funding Partnerships View all