Why implementation quality matters more than program replication—and what prevention leaders need to know about creating lasting impact at scale. We all want to scale what works. Funders ask for it. Communities desperately need it. And if you're in prevention, you feel that pressure—when something works in one place, why wouldn't  we get it everywhere, fast? Here's the thing: in violence prevention, scaling isn't just about going bigger. When done wrong, it can actually dilu

Effective prevention isn’t about checking a box. It ’s about using strategies proven to reduce violence and create real safety. Here’s...

Part 1 of a 3-Part Series on Protecting Kids in Digital Spaces A quick note if we're just meeting: Welcome! You're just in time. Yesterday , I launched EVOLVE Violence Prevention after months of planning and creating. I am sleep-deprived, coffee-fueled, and... INCREDIBLY EXCITED ! I built EVOLVE to help organizations translate violence prevention evidence into strategies that work, and I hope it will help you  — the people doing the real work. More on that at www.evolveprev

If you were online last week, you probably saw The New York Times op-ed asking the deeply scientific question of our age: “ Did Women Ruin the Workplace? ” “The pathology in our institutions known as wokeness is distinctively feminine and feminized … in a very literal sense, our institutions have gone woke because there are more women in them than there used to be.” —The New York Times Op-Ed, 11/6/2025 If “ruin” looks like making the workplace safer, healthier, and more func

Violence costs trillions. Prevention builds futures — and saves money doing it. Every community pays for violence. We pay for emergency care and police response. We pay for lost workdays, broken trust, physical and psychological harm, intergenerational trauma, and interrupted lives. But what if we invested that same money before  harm happens — building safety and opportunity instead of repairing damage? It turns out, prevention isn’t just the right thing to do. It’s also one

Neuroscience is helping us pinpoint who’s most at risk—and how to intervene earlier to prevent violence. But we still haven't done it. “Psychopathy is an early-appearing risk factor for severe and chronic violence. … Yet, despite a vast base of research, the public health approach to violence has generally neglected this key variable.” — Reidy, Kearns, DeGue, Lilienfeld, Massetti & Kiehl (2015) Ten years ago, in a paper titled "Why Psychopathy Matters" , colleagues and I ma

Digital life brings connection—and new risks. From online harassment to extremist recruitment, technology-facilitated violence is on the rise. In this guest post, Dr. Vi Le shares what prevention practitioners can do now to stay ahead of the curve and protect communities in the digital age.

Transparency is critical. Believing and supporting survivors is essential. But investing in prevention is the only way to ensure we’re not back here again in 10 or 20 years, listening to another generation of survivors asking why nothing changed.

When resources are tight, it’s tempting to skip evaluation and “just do the work.” The problem: without a feedback loop, we can’t tell if we’re drifting off course—or if we’re quietly getting wins worth doubling down on. Evaluation helps us steer in motion. It protects people and dollars, and it helps us tell a clear story about progress, even when the steps are small.

Federal cuts have created a perfect storm for targeted violence—and a preventable one. Friday’s shooting targeting CDC’s main campus in...