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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides recommendations on successful evidence-based strategies for preventing sexual violence in a technical package entitled “STOP SV’. This package uses the best available evidence to provide a select group of strategies with the greatest potential to reduce sexual violence. These strategies focus on promoting social norms that protect against violence (S); teaching skills to prevent SV (T); providing economic and social opportunities to empower and support girls and women (O); creating protective environments (P); and supporting victims/survivors to lessen harms (SV). The approaches included for these strategies address shared risk and protective factors for multiple forms of violence across the socio- ecological spectrum.

STOP SV

Strategy Approach S Promote Social Norms that Protect Against Violence Bystander approaches

T Teach Skills to Prevent Sexual Violence Social-emotional learning Teaching healthy, safe dating and intimate relationship skills Empowerment-based training O Provide Opportunities to Empower and Support Girls and Women Strengthening economic supports for women and families Strengthening leadership and opportunities for girls P Create Protective Environments Improving safety in schools Establishing and consistently applying workplace policies Addressing community level risks through environmental approaches

Research presented in the co-text guidance “Connecting the Dots” demonstrates children and families living in communities with many risk factors, such as high poverty, unemployment and crime, are more likely to experience multiple forms of violence than children and families in other communities. Similarly, people living in communities with protective factors, such as coordination of resources and services, access to mental health and substance abuse services and community support and connectedness are less likely to experience violence and more likely to be resilient. Addressing shared risk and protective factors provides an opportunity to move beyond individual-level programming to address the co-occurrence of multiple forms of violence on the community level.

Applying strategies to address factors on all levels of the social ecological model (SEM) is a key public health approach and will maximize impact for both communities and