DEPARTMENT: Health Department
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Vincent R. Nathan, PhD, MPH
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: District 2
SUBJECT:
An ordinance authorizes the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District (Metro Health) to apply for a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) grant on Preventing Teen Dating Violence and Youth Violence by Addressing Shared Risk and Protective Factors and authorizes the acceptance of funds upon award.
The City Manager or her designee, or the Director of the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District or his designee is authorized execute contract amendments pertaining to this grant contract, to include amendments which will provide supplemental grant funds to the grant by the funding agency in an amount up to 20% of the total amount awarded to the grant inclusive of the additional funds accepted under this ordinance.
SUMMARY:
This Ordinance authorizes the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District to apply for a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) grant on Preventing Teen Dating Violence and Youth Violence. This CDC grant on preventing teen dating violence and youth violence will be a 5 year grant term.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Deaths and injuries caused by violence are always terrible, but feel particularly tragic when the victim is a child or young adult. Though violence is ever present in human society, deaths and injuries due to violence are preventable. Violence is the leading cause of death worldwide for people aged 15 - 44. In the United States, violence is the third leading cause of death for people between the ages of 15 - 24. In Texas, the violence related fatal injury rate for youth (10-24) is 14.63 percent costing the state an estimated $4,084,892. Bexar County’s rate is much higher at 17.48 percent fatal injuries per 100,000 people. Homicide is the second leading cause of death for youth (10-24) in San Antonio after car accidents.
In San Antonio, violence kills more African Americans than heart disease. Metro Health is currently implementing the StandUpSA gun prevention initiative working with youth 16 years of age and older. The new CDC teen dating violence and youth violence grant would work in collaboration with the StandUpSA initiative but have a specific prevention focus on younger youth. According to San Antonio Police Department 2015 data, ten census tracts on the Eastside have a high number and percent of violent incidents among youth aged 10-24.
Though violence is often addressed as a crime and safety issue, violence is also a public health issue. Public health approaches, rather than using punishment and force to deter violence, assume that violent behavior is like all human behavior: responsive to structures, incentives, and norms. Violent behavior has been shown to spread through populations like other diseases concentrating in clusters and among individuals who have close contact. The proposed grant funding targets programs that address the shared risk factors that can decrease both youth violence and teen dating violence using ecological public health approaches.
ISSUE:
Metro Health is requesting City Council authorization to apply for a CDC grant on preventing teen dating violence and youth violence.
ALTERNATIVES:
Without the proposed agreement, Metro Health would not have the ability to implement public health approaches to preventing teen dating violence and youth violence.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The CDC Grant is a 5 year project with an estimated annual amount of $325,000 (total 5yrs. $1,625,000). The five year project period is September 1, 2016 to August 31, 2021. The grant will fund (3) positions. There is no impact on the General Fund.
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends approval of an ordinance authorizing Metro Health to apply for a CDC grant on preventing teen dating violence and youth violence and the acceptance of funds upon award.