Community Health Promotion & Prevention

SF Violence Prevention Network

A network of individuals, communities, public & private organizations

Mission: To facilitate collaboration and cooperation in San Francisco by using a systematic public health approach to prevent violence and promote peace.

The Violence Prevention Network (VPN), staffed by SFDPH, brings together city and county, public, private, non-profit and community based agencies as well as individuals to develop and implement strategies that prevent violence and promote peace in San Francisco.

The members of the network come together once a month to share information resources, data and best practices. In 1998, the network completed the Violence Prevention Planning Framework, upon which its current work is based. In the past, the VPN has supported numerous Community Action Teams that worked in the areas of reducing access to firearms, educating communities in media literacy, educating about and preventing domestic and dating violence for adults and teens. Over the past several years, the VPN has held several workshops, trainings and conferences and produced two editions of a Violence Prevention Resource Directory. Current VPN plans are to focus on risk factors for violence (training, community events, and the development of RoadMap #2).

VPN Membership
Membership is open to all who wish to explore the public health approach to preventing violence and network with others about current issues, programs/services, best practices, etc.