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Costs of Summer Youth Employment to Prevent Violence: an Analysis and Implementer’s Tool

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A Correction to this article was published on 14 September 2023

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Abstract

Gun homicide rates have risen 35% across the USA since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. One promising intervention to prevent violent crime is summer youth employment programs (SYEPs), which provide youth with meaningful workplace experiences, prosocial engagements, and developmental opportunities during the summer months, when many otherwise lack structure. This paper presents a cost analysis of violence prevention-focused SYEPs to help implementers understand the costs generally and in their own community contexts—to advocate for adoption and secure funding of, effectively budget for, and successfully implement SYEPs. Researchers use an ingredient-based costing approach and provide a template for implementers to use and adapt for their context. SYEPs with the goal of reaching youth who are justice-involved or at risk of being victims or perpetrators of violence can cost $3331 per youth assisted, with 54% of this cost directly paid to youth through stipends. Cost per youth is driven by the intensity of the mentoring and support that community organizations provide to the program participants. Knowing the cost per youth assisted can inform further analysis, implementation, and expansion of SYEPs.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful for Sierra Palmer and Ashley Lara for their support in collecting cost and program data as part of their practicum.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, New York, NY, USA

    Kathryn Schnippel, Jason Szkola & Megan J. O’Toole

  2. School of Public Health, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA

    Bruce Larson & Jonathan Jay

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  1. Kathryn Schnippel
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Correspondence to Megan J. O’Toole.

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The original version of this article was revised: The surname of coauthor Kathryn Schnippel was misspelled in the article as originally published.

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Schnippel, K., Larson, B., Jay, J. et al. Costs of Summer Youth Employment to Prevent Violence: an Analysis and Implementer’s Tool. J Urban Health 100, 676–685 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-023-00753-8

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