First-ever Summer Youth Institute on gun violence prevention

Production for the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research (JHCGPR) Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) is underway. In May 2019 the MOOC, Reducing Gun Violence in America: Evidence for Change, will become available via Coursera to audiences across the country providing a unique opportunity to learn from some of the nation’s leading gun policy researchers. 

Reducing Gun Violence in America: Evidence for Change, is a six-week course featuring 23 speakers – including nine from Johns Hopkins University of which seven are JHCGPR faculty. Remaining experts are affiliated with universities across the United States including Harvard, Northeastern, University of California Los Angeles, Michigan State, University of California Davis, Duke, University of Virginia, Temple, Yale, John Jay College, and University of Colorado Denver. Featured experts deliver content across a broad range of disciplines among which health policy, criminal justice, law, mental health, medicine, education, global affairs, health sciences, epidemiology, reproductive health, behavioral sciences, and violence prevention are represented. The scope and diversity of research fields represented underscores the multi-dimensionality of gun violence as a complex public health issue and affirms the need for a variety of perspectives to inform our national discussion. 

While the MOOC’s content is primarily catered to a high school and undergraduate-aged audience, JHCGPR faculty designed Reducing Gun Violence in America: Evidence for Change to be accessible to anyone interested in learning about gun violence prevention. Divided into 6 modules each comprised of approximately 1.5 hours of content, the course allows learners to work through course material at their own pace. The MOOC covers a broad range of topics including the epidemiology of gun violence, civilian gun ownership and use, and the impact of evidence-based laws, policies, and interventions existing to curb gun violence. 

In July 2019, the JHCGPR will host its first-ever Summer Youth Institute at the JHU Homewood Campus inviting 50 high school-aged youth from across the country. Chosen applicants will be offered full scholarships to attend a 3-day workshop and learn from JHCGPR faculty experts. The goal of the Summer Youth Institute is to engage youth passionately committed to advocating on behalf of gun violence prevention and provide them the tools necessary to return to their communities with robust evidence-informed skills and resources to effect change. The application for JHCGPR Summer Youth Institute, Reducing Gun Violence in America: Evidence for Change, opens April 1, 2019 at 12:00 PM (PST) and will remain open for two weeks before closing on April 22nd by 11:59 PM (PST). Any and all interested high school students between the ages of 15-17 on program dates July 8-11, 2019 are eligible and encouraged to apply! 

Learn more and submit an application before the April 22, 2019 deadline. 

Stay up to date on JHCGPR research, projects, and more by visiting www.jhsph.edu/gunpolicy, and on Twitter @JHCGPR.

Help us spread the word and share our MOOC and Summer Youth Institute projects on Reducing Gun Violence in America: Evidence for Change with your social media networks using the hashtag #evidenceforchange.