Where policy meets the pavement: Stages of public involvement in the prevention of school violence

Based on qualitative research on school and city violence, this article examines three forms of partnerships between community organizations and schools, including youth interventions by social services; community activism; and school liaisons with the police. The article examines how violence-prevention strategies are conceived within a context that includes the formation of policy directed at communities, youths, and schools; social science theories of delinquency; public rhetoric about youth and families; and efforts on the part of community residents, city departments, and social services. The underlying theory-base behind the research can be associated with cultural studies, since it combines cultural and structural interpretations of the topic and analyzes policies according to their processes, in light of their constructions, and in connection with the theories that guide them. It becomes obvious by the end of the article that community-based violence-prevention organizations collaborating with schools are sometimes blocked from doing good work by poor funding, power struggles, and a deficit model of youth. While the partnerships can, at times, help to initiate positive involvement of disenfranchised people, they can also become instruments of city power structures. For their positive and productive work to come out, the interagency and school collaborations must solve the problems that are discussed in the article.