Violence is an urgent public health problem affecting hundreds of thousands of Californians each year. While violence impacts all Californians, significant disparities exist due to long histories of disinvestment and structural racism. Black, Latino, Indigenous, Native American, and Alaska Native communities disproportionately experience higher rates of violence, including child abuse, suicide, and firearm violence. These disparities not only result in disproportionate deaths and injuries but also profoundly affect the physical, psychological, economic, and intergenerational harms that violence causes for individuals, families, and communities.

Despite California leading the nation in efforts to reduce firearm violence and having a firearm death rate 43% below the national average, firearm injuries and deaths continue to significantly impact the health and well-being of Californians, and these impacts are not evenly distributed across communities.

The Roadmap is the result of a comprehensive formative research effort conducted in partnership with the Institute for Social Research (ISR) at California State University, Sacramento, between 2023 and 2024. Rather than prescribing recommendations, the Roadmap serves as a “menu” of potential strategies, based on each community’s unique needs and contexts, and builds upon existing expertise to inform local public health governments, organizations, and partners about current evidence-based and evidence-informed firearm violence primary prevention strategies:

1. Address racism
2. Elevate positive childhood experiences and reduce adverse childhood experiences
3. Change social norms
4. Strengthen household financial security
5. Strengthen social supports
6. Improve neighborhood conditions
7. Improve firearm safety practices
8. Implement community violence intervention mention CVI programs

This report references the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research’s 2022 Parks After Dark Evaluation Report and food insecurity data from the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS).