The North Carolina Youth Violence Prevention Center

In 2010, NC-YVPC was created with funding from the United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Paul Smokowski, Ph.D. founded the Center when he was a Professor at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill's School of Social Work. We were the only CDC-funded Academic Center for Excellence in Youth Violence Prevention to focus on rural communities.  

In 2014, the North Carolina Youth Violence Prevention Center (NC-YVPC) became a not-for-profit agency. The Center coordinates Teen Court (TC) programming, parent training, services for victims of crime, and other community- and evidenced-based violence prevention services. NC YVPC provides critical leadership for conducting program evaluations, leading experimental trials, and ensuring implementation fidelity of TCs and other prevention programs.

NC YVPC’s mission to reduce and prevent youth violence in Robeson County was achieved through the implementation and evaluation of a multi-level youth violence prevention initiative that combined evidenced-based programs together into a comprehensive package. This multi-level youth violence prevention initiative consisted of primary prevention in all middle schools within Robeson County, secondary prevention for high-risk parents, and juvenile justice diversion for first offenders (i.e., Teen Court). Each program was evaluated individually and together as a package on county-level crime and violence outcomes.