STRYVE Houston
About the Collaboration
In 2011, HDHHS received a five-year grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) STRYVE initiative. STRYVE is a national initiative that focuses on (1) elevating awareness of a prevention-oriented approach to handling youth violence and (2) increasing the use of best practices for preventing youth violence. STRYVE focuses heavily on youth violence and factors that influence youth violence, including low attendance at and engagement in school. The initiative aims to actively involve youth in helping to improve social and environmental conditions that could otherwise lead to violence.
STRYVE Houston partners with several community organizations—including faith-based organizations, local businesses, and recreation agencies—and adolescent leaders around a common prevention model to address youth violence:
- Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services
- Children’s Protective Services
- City of Houston Public Works and Engineering Department
- Council for a Safer County
- Department of Neighborhoods
- Harris County Juvenile Probation Department
- Harris County Precinct 1
- Houston Area Urban League
- Houston Independent School District
- Houston Parks and Recreation
- Houston Police Department and its Youth Police Advisory Council
- Keep Houston Beautiful
- Mayor’s Anti-Gang Office
- National Association of City and County Health Officials
- Parents for Public Schools of Houston
- SER-Jobs for Progress
- United Way of Greater Houston
- University of Texas Prevention Research Center
- Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA)
The initiative is based in five super neighborhoods in Houston that have especially high rates of crime and school dropout and show trends in indicators relevant to youth violence (e.g., poverty, unemployment, low academic achievement or school engagement, injury, and lack of parental involvement).
