This page focuses on how youth researchers shared their findings and worked to spark change in their communities. For the project, youth researchers led key strategies for turning findings into action: community data walks, hackathons, digital storytelling, and conversations with city and community leaders. These efforts helped ensure the research made an impact beyond the study itself.
Check out resources developed for sharing findings
Check out the Plan to Share Findings page to learn more about how youth researchers determined their audience, dissemination strategies, and products.
Data walks
The Safety 7 team hosted two data walks—one in person and one virtual—to share findings with peers, family members, service providers, and city leaders. These events created space for discussion, reflection, and feedback. During the in-person walk, attendees rotated through stations where they engaged with key themes identified by the youth, including root causes of violence and ideas for change. The virtual version featured a video tour and interactive displays, expanding access for those unable to attend in person. These events strengthened community partnerships and allowed youth to hear directly from decision makers about how the research could be used.
Why a data walk?
Youth wanted a format that invited people into their findings, created space for real conversation, and honored the stories shared during the research process.
Hackathons
To build on the findings, we launched a series of youth-led hackathons designed to bring community members together to generate actionable solutions for reducing violence. These hackathons created space for youth, families, and community members to reflect on research findings, share lived experiences, and co-create ideas rooted in community strengths and possibilities. While these events served as data collection activities in this project, they can be used in other projects for community engagement, idea generation, or action planning.
Each hackathon is structured around the Appreciative Inquiry approach, which emphasizes what is working well rather than focusing only on challenges. Using this strengths-based method, participants move through a four-step process: reflecting on community assets (Discover), imagining a safer future (Dream), designing practical solutions (Design), and sharing commitments to action (Destiny). Sessions are interactive and hands-on, using art supplies and group discussion to spark creativity and collaboration.
The hackathons were co-facilitated by youth researchers, supported by staff from Child Trends and Sasha Bruce Youthwork. Each session began with a short youth-led presentation of research findings and ended with participants sharing ideas they would like to see implemented. These gatherings helped translate research into community-informed solutions and build momentum for ongoing action in Wards 7 and 8.
Example facilitation guides, activities, and other resources
- Hackathon Protocol– This document provides a step-by-step guide for facilitating community hackathons where youth, families, and community members collaboratively generate solutions to reduce community violence using a structured, youth-led, and art-based approach.
- Appreciative Inquiry Handout – This handout supports hackathon participants through the four Appreciative Inquiry phases (Discover, Dream, Design, Destiny) by offering prompts and space to reflect, imagine, and plan community-based solutions.
- The Four Types of Solutions Handout– This handout introduces participants to four categories of solutions—policy, tool/resource-based, behavioral change, and programmatic—to help guide their idea development during the hackathons.
Digital storytelling
To broaden the impact of their work, the Safety 7 team used digital storytelling tools to reach audiences beyond the in-person events. These products summarized the research and offered personal, accessible, and community-centered ways to understand the findings and calls to action.
- Blog: The blog served as a platform for the team to share their findings more broadly with peers, practitioners, and policymakers. It featured a youth-friendly summary of the main insights, reflections on the research process, and a video walkthrough of the virtual data walk to visually bring the work to life. The tone and structure were crafted to feel conversational and engaging. Although adult facilitators drafted the blog due to youth availability, the content was rooted in materials the youth had created, and youth provided final edits to ensure the blog reflected their voice, tone, and priorities.
- Digital report: This co-authored report was designed as a comprehensive record of the project. It included an overview of the research purpose, a plain-language explanation of methods, a deep dive into key themes, and concrete recommendations developed by the youth team. To ensure accessibility, the report blended visual design (e.g., graphics, icons, and youth quotes) with narrative storytelling. While adult staff supported the initial drafting, youth supported the review and revision process, making sure the language, framing, and design accurately represented their work and perspectives.
Together, these digital pieces helped the Safety 7 team preserve their work, extend their reach, and spark conversation among people who couldn’t attend in-person events.
Meetings with city and community leaders
Throughout the project, Safety 7 met with local leaders to share emerging findings, highlight key themes, and advocate for meaningful change. These conversations took place before, during, and after the release of the blog and report. They gave youth the chance to explain the data in their own words and connect their findings to real-time policy and program decisions. Leaders asked questions, provided feedback, and discussed how the insights could inform their work. These meetings were a key part of moving from research to action and helped position youth voices at the center of community safety efforts.
The Safety 7 includes seven youth researchers (Zionnah Garnett, Elijah Jones, London Mclean, Jermese Perkins, Ife Tobechi, Ike Tobechi, and Meagan Tutt) who make all key research decisions in partnership with staff from Child Trends and Sasha Bruce Youthwork. The Safety 7 is supported by Quiana Lewis Wallace and Deja Logan from Child Trends, Courtney Gibbs, and Bianca Faccio from Sasha Bruce Youthwork.
In the second phase of the project, we launched a new cohort of younger youth researchers (ages 14 to 17) who named themselves Break the Cycle. This group consisted of six emerging researchers: Jackson Gloster, Carter Gloster, Nalej Francis, Nicolas Cerda, DeMaya Brown, and Shane Coffen. Break the Cycle led a series of community hackathons engaging youth and local stakeholders in solution-oriented dialogue and action. Their work was supported by Bianca Faccio and Flo White of Sasha Bruce Youthwork.
Principal investigators for the study are Samantha Holquist and Quiana Lewis Wallace (Child Trends) with support from Kelly Murphy. Jennifer Widstrand (Child Trends) served as the Project Director. Additional contributions came from Ja’Chelle Ball, Kenya Downing, Jessica Conway, Olivia Reyes, and Alyssa Scott (Child Trends), and Deborah Shore, Donnell Potts, Ivana Gutierrez, and Jane McGhee (Sasha Bruce Youthwork).