Uniting to Prevent Targeted Violence
 
Uniting to Prevent Targeted Violence (UPTV) is a non-partisan program that brings together 28 Pennsylvanians, known as Uniters, in Adams, Dauphin, Franklin, and York Counties to work across divides to prevent targeted violence. 

​UPTV kicked off in Gettysburg on February 18, 2023 and will run through August 2024. 

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UPTV Program Goals:
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1. Build relationships across ideological, racial, and generational divides
2. Implement projects that reduce risks of targeted violence 
   
3. Form and deploy local Threat Assessment and Management teams       
4. Raise our communities' awareness of targeted violence​​​

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Program Leadership
​UPTV is led by a team of seven people who live and work in Adams, Dauphin, Franklin, and York Counties. The program will be implemented by Urban Rural Action, a national grassroots movement that brings Americans together across divides to tackle our country's most urgent challenges, in collaboration with four local partner organizations:​

• CONTACT Helpline, a 24-hour, 7 days-a-week, listening, health and human service information and referral service;
• Just for Today Recovery & Veteran's Support Services, which offers recovery and reentry and veterans programs;
• Mediation Services of Adams County, which provides conflict resolution and transformative mediation services; and
• Suicide Prevention of York, which empowers communities to prevent suicide.

We will also work closely with our media literacy partner, News Literacy Project, which will share with us the skills needed to be smart consumers of news and engage productively in our communities.

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​Program Overview
​UPTV has four phases. During each phase, the cohort gathers in person for relationship-building, skill-building, dialogue, analysis, project design, and/or project implementation.

Targeted Violence Prevention Projects with Community Partners
Uniters will work on teams, each with a community partner, to implement a targeted violence prevention project that (1) addresses risk factors identified by the group, and (2) advances a goal of the community partner. A budget of $10,000 will support each project.

Below are possible starting points for projects that each Uniters team will design with their community partner: 
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●   CONTACT Helpline: expand and/or strengthen CONTACT Helpline resources, information, and referrals and/or emotional listening support services relating to targeted violence in Franklin County.
●   Just for Today Recovery & Veteran's Support Services: expand and/or strengthen PTSD Veteran Recovery Support program in Dauphin County.
●   Mediation Services of Adams County: increase de-escalation techniques in volatile situations and/or expand restorative justice in Adams County to enhance protective factors like repaired relationships and/or transform toxic online discourse into more constructive engagement.
●   Suicide Prevention of York: expand suicide survivor support groups, reduce mental health stigma, and/or broaden critical incident training to address “suicides by cop” in York County.

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UPTV Core Team

We are the team that will be leading UPTV from start to finish. We can't wait to connect with you! Get to know us a bit below. 

This project is funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships, opportunity number DHS-22-TTP-132-00-01.