Youth report favourable impressions of community street outreach workers
A new study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Centre for Injury Research and Policy finds that youth generally perceive community street outreach workers positively, regardless of whether they have personally worked with one. Street outreach workers are typically members of the community who intervene to prevent conflict and retaliation, and in some programs, also connect individuals with needed services, such as housing, health care and job training. While communities across the United States are increasingly using street workers as a strategy to connect at-risk youth to services and prevent gang-related violence, little is known about how they are viewed by the youth in their communities, particularly among youth who have not yet worked with one. This study, available online in advance of publication in the Journal of Community Health, is the first peer-reviewed study to include the perceptions of youth who are not former or current clients of community...