Conducting Actionable Economic Policy Research to Address Community Violence Inequities

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Sociology
• Health Policy

Background:

• Firearm violence among Black youth is a critical public health issue in the U.S.
• Structural racism and economic inequality significantly contribute to this violence.
• Existing policy evaluations often overlook racial disparities and implementation challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a community-engaged mixed-methods framework for evaluating economic security policies as violence prevention tools.
• To understand the nuanced ways these policies impact firearm violence risk for Black youth.
• To move beyond average effect estimation to explain policy mechanisms and conditions.

Main Methods:

• Sequential explanatory, community-engaged mixed-methods evaluation.
• Longitudinal, state-level quantitative analyses.
• Community Action Board (CAB)-guided interpretation, qualitative inquiry, and triangulation.

Main Results:

• Policy evaluation research needs to incorporate racialized barriers and implementation realities.
• Average policy effects may mask heterogeneous impacts on Black youth.
• A mixed-methods approach can reveal how, for whom, and under what conditions policies prevent violence.

Conclusions:

• Economic security policies have the potential to serve as violence prevention interventions for Black youth.
• A community-engaged, mixed-methods approach is essential for effective policy evaluation and action.
• Future research should focus on the specific mechanisms through which economic policies influence violence risk.