The Safe Start Initiative: Building and Disseminating Knowledge to Support Children Exposed to Violence

ABSTRACT The Safe Start Initiative promotes community investment in evidence-based strategies for preventing and reducing children's exposure to violence in the home and the community. This article describes the implementation of practice innovation in 26 communities across the United States and provides information on the national research, evaluation, training, and technical assistance, resource development, and broad dissemination components of the initiative. Evaluation of the initiative is expanding the knowledge of the elements needed to implement comprehensive service delivery systems and improve access to, delivery of, and quality of services both for children at high risk of being exposed to violence and for those who have already been exposed.