UNI Partners with Iowa Department of Education on School Violence Prevention

The State of Iowa has received federal funding from the STOP School Violence Prevention and Mental Health Training Program, which provides training and education on preventing violence and effectively responding to related mental health crises.

“UNI's Center for Violence Prevention looks forward to partnering with the Iowa Department of Education to provide systemic, evidenced-based school violence prevention training and programming to Iowa's school districts and respective communities,” Alan Heisterkamp, director of UNI's Center for Violence Prevention, said. “Engaging leadership at multiple levels within a school environment is essential to decreasing and eliminating incidents of harm and abuse.”

Iowa's Department of Education will oversee the grant program in partnership with UNI's Center for Violence Prevention, the Iowa Department of Public Health and the Iowa Department of Human Services. Iowa's project will train teachers and school employees to respond to threats of violence and to prevent violence in schools; train school staff, area education agency staff, and community members to respond to students who may be struggling with mental health or addiction; and educate students on preventing violence against themselves and others.

The mission of UNI's Center for Violence Prevention is to build the capacity of school districts, colleges and universities, and agencies serving youth and families to systematically implement, practice and evaluate effective bullying and violence prevention strategies.