Affirming Youth Foundation, Inc. (AYF) took part in a peer-to-peer exchange with Hawaii-based Adult Friends for Youth and the National Gang Center. Organizational leaders and community stakeholders gathered to share their experiences and learn from one another’s triumphs and obstacles in order to achieve collective and ongoing growth in the elimination of youth violence.
Community-based participatory research practices, such as working with Florida International University and using community knowledge to increase participants’ knowledge, skills, and needs, were used by AYF to adopt and change good implementation practices. Adult Friends for Youth also talked about what they have learned from working with gang-involved youth.