The Run It Up Intervention: Addressing the Effects of Structural Determinants on Adolescent Identity, Beliefs, and...

Firearm violence in Washington, DC, rose from 2020 to 2022, especially in neighborhoods most affected by long-term socioeconomic marginalization as discussed by Josephson (2022). The Run It Up project is a research-based effort to reduce the role of community structural factors in prioritizing adolescent beliefs about potential life trajectories ("possible selves") that foreground violence. The project is a partnership between the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health and the Washington Highlands community in DC. This paper presents results of formative research, including 10 adolescent focus groups (n = 80) and 17 key informant interviews conducted over 12 months, to inform intervention development. The resulting intervention seeks to change the calculation of possible selves for adolescents by implementing desirable, tangible trajectories that do not involve violence or pro-violence norms, and in turn reduce youth involvement in firearm violence. These alternative trajectories are implemented through community-based training/mentoring in six career pathways (tracks) that offer attributes and gains meaningful to youth (from the formative research). The intervention includes an intervention branding campaign implemented primarily through social media featuring narratives about the tracks and their attributes. Run It Up is being evaluated using a quasi-experimental design with baseline and follow-up surveys in the intervention and comparison communities. The purpose of the research project is to determine whether and how a university-community partnership can develop and promote alternative life trajectories for youth in communities with high levels of violence, and whether these alternatives increase youth resilience and decrease involvement in violence.