Denver youth concerned about the welfare of a peer (or themselves) have a new tool at their fingertips to get connected to help.
Inspired by the 20-year-old Safe2Tell program, which has enabled young people to anonymously report safety concerns to law enforcement, the new Power of One mobile app aims to address a wider variety of concerns- including things like housing or food insecurity-while appealing to youth who have been slow to buy into its predecessor.
"We wanted to create something that was more community driven with less involvement from law enforcement unless absolutely necessary," said David Bechhoefer, project director for the CU Boulder-based Youth Violence Prevention Center-Denver (YVPC-Denver).
An outgrowth of CU Boulder's Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, YVPC-Denver was created 13 years ago to confront what the Centers for Disease Control, its major funder, calls the "serious public health problem" of youth violence in America.
Beverly Kingston, left, Dave Bechhoefer, right, and the Game Changers.
CU Boulder scholars and community organizations in Northeast Denver neighborhoods have been collaborating ever since to develop creative solutions and serve as a national violence-prevention model.
The new app, which comes with the tagline "created by us, for us" was largely conceived of by Denver youth themselves, under the project's Youth Advisory Council.
Bechhoefer stresses that the pilot project, aimed at northeast Denver youth, is not intended to replace Safe2Tell, which allows people anywhere in Colorado to provide tips about safety concerns like school shooting threats or suicide risk 24/7 through calls, texts, apps or its website.
That program, which now gets about 28,000 tips per year, has proven to be a critical tool in the war against youth violence, added Beverly Kingston, CSPV director.
But more tools are needed, she said.
Limits of Safe2Tell
"Some historically marginalized communities have been reluctant to use Safe2Tell due to a strong code of silence, stigma associated with 'snitching,' concerns about possible retaliation and cynicism toward police," Kingston said. "We need ways to reach them, too."
Launched in July, Power of One uses the same technology platform and works similarly to Safe2Tell. Instead of routing submissions immediately to local law enforcement and school officials, it routes them to a paid staff of "peer navigators," which include social worker students and specially-trained community members in their 20s.
They look over the submissions, which can include video, audio and screen shots of social media posts, and triage them to hyper-local community services.
If an incoming concern is deemed an imminent violent threat, it is immediately routed to 911.
Some cases involving potential future violence, like a fight in the making, might be referred to a team of "violence interrupters" at the Denver nonprofit, the Struggle of Love Foundation.
Other cases might simply lead a distressed teen to needed resources.
For instance, if someone alerts them that a student's family has been evicted or a youth is struggling with their grades after losing a loved one, the peer navigator might connect them to housing support, a food bank, a counselor, a tutor or a mentor.
"Having your utilities shut off or having no food in the house can also ultimately lead to violence," said Bechhoefer, adding that addressing such crisis early can change the trajectory of a young person's life.
Peer navigators will also keep an eye social media - where disputes often accelerate into real-life violence - for signs that someone needs help.
While the app is only intended for northeast Denver area youth, its creators hope it could become a national model.
Imagine Smith, a peer navigator and 22-year-old Denver born and raised in Denver, said he wishes such a program had been around when he was in his teens.
"I was angry, mad and broken" after losing five people in one year to acts of violence, he said. "I was hanging around with the wrong crowd and not thinking about what it was going to do with my future."
After a few run-ins with the law, Smith found his way to the Struggle of Love Foundation, which provides food, counseling, afterschool activities and other programs to underprivileged youth and families.
He now has his own record label and, through his work with Power of One, refers struggling youth to the same organization who lent him a hand.
"I think it's a great idea," Smith said. "If they are scared to go out and tell a teacher or a parent what's going on, they can use this and we can get them connected to the help they need."
