The Guiding Principles are the values and the foundation of the SS/HS Framework. Guiding Principles are one of three components of the SS/HS Framework that links the five Elements with the five Strategic Approaches to ensure a comprehensive approach to youth violence prevention and mental health promotion.
Select a Guiding Principle below to learn more:
- Cultural and linguistic competency: Ensuring that all programs and evaluations are appropriate for every cultural group. Programs should value diversity and incorporate multiple cultural perspectives. Policies and strategies should support the cultivation of data to measure and address disparities.
- Serving vulnerable and at-risk populations: Addressing the needs of children and youth, students, and schools that are most vulnerable or at risk, e.g., foster youth, English language learners, LGBTQ youth, disconnected youth, families in transition or homeless youth, and youth at risk for commercial sexual exploitation.
- Developmentally appropriate: Using prevention and intervention strategies and evidence-based programs that are appropriate for a specific age group or developmental level.
- Resource leveraging: Assessing and using existing resources and identifying the need for additional resources, e.g., the leveraging of existing federal funding mechanisms, including resources available through the Affordable Care Act.
- Sustainability: Using various strategies to maintain and sustain the positive outcomes of a comprehensive approach to youth violence prevention and mental health promotion.
- Youth guided and family driven: Ensuring that youth understand that change is possible, that systems serve them, and that they feel safe, cared for, valued, useful, and spiritually grounded. Ensuring that families have a primary decision making role in the care of their own children as well as the policies and procedures governing care for all children in their community, state, tribe, territory, and nation.
- Evidence-based interventions: Using a continuum of integrated policies, strategies, activities, services, and programs whose effectiveness has been proven or informed by research.
Use the SS/HS Framework tool to see examples of how the intersection of the different Elements and Strategic Approaches creates change at the state and local levels.
