The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention awarded a $6.5 million grant to Virginia Commonwealth University’s Clark-Hill Institute for Positive Youth Development to work with the City of Richmond and Richmond Public Schools on a comprehensive approach to reduce youth violence in Richmond.

The five-year grant will be used to develop and evaluate a youth violence prevention model that has the potential for being implemented nationwide, according to Albert Farrell, Ph.D., psychology professor and director of the institute, which is part of the VCU Department of Psychology. The VCU program is one of four university programs nationally to receive this CDC funding.