New National Prevention Scan Data: Key Takeaways for Strengthening Prevention
The newly released National Prevention Scan Data Report, administered by the National Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Prevention Council and convened by the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence, provides a powerful snapshot of the current prevention landscape.
The Council — a national network of IPV prevention practitioners — gathered data from prevention efforts across the country, from local community programs to statewide and national initiatives advancing social change toward peace, fairness, and economic stability. The report highlights trends in collaboration, funding, evaluation, and partnerships while identifying opportunities to sustain and scale prevention work.
What the Data Shows
- Widespread prevention activity, but uneven reach: Programs exist across the country, yet access and quality differ significantly from community to community.
- Focus on individual behavior change: Most prevention strategies target individuals, while fewer tackle the structural conditions — like policies, norms, or organizational practices — that shape violence.
- Persistent workforce challenges: Recruiting, training, and retaining skilled prevention staff continues to be a major barrier.
- Evaluation gaps: Many programs track activities but don’t measure outcomes, limiting their ability to show impact or adapt strategies.
Four Strategies to Advance Prevention Practice
Based on these findings, the National IPV Prevention Council outlines four strategies to guide prevention work forward. These recommendations offer a roadmap for programs seeking to deepen impact, strengthen sustainability, and meet the evolving needs of communities:
- Strengthen Community-Based Prevention Efforts
- Expand beyond individual-level education and engage the settings where people live, work, and gather.
- Address the social and structural factors that create conditions where violence is more or less likely to happen.
- Embed prevention into existing community priorities to increase reach and relevance.
- Build Supportive Evaluation Practices
- Integrate evaluation from the start, not as an add-on.
- Focus on measuring outcomes that matter: changes in norms, environments, and systems, not just participation numbers.
- Use evaluation data to refine strategies, demonstrate impact, and make the case for continued investment.
- Expand and Diversify Prevention Funding
- Advocate for funding streams that reflect the scope and scale of prevention work.
- Explore new funding partners, including public health, education, economic justice, and housing sectors.
- Align funding with multi-level strategies that address root causes and promote long-term change.
- Foster Creative Partnerships
- Build coalitions across sectors including those not traditionally engaged in violence prevention.
- Partner with organizations focused on economic stability, housing, and public safety to address shared goals.
- Use partnerships to amplify reach, share resources, and create lasting infrastructure for prevention.
What This Means for Prevention Practice
For practitioners, the implications are clear: prevention work must evolve beyond isolated, individual-level interventions and toward comprehensive, collaborative, and sustainable approaches. Programs that embrace these strategies are better positioned to:
- Influence the broader conditions that enable or prevent violence
- Build evidence of effectiveness and secure long-term support
- Sustain their work through diverse funding streams
- Strengthen community ownership and long-term impact
The National Prevention Scan Report offers more than a snapshot. It’s a roadmap. By embracing the Council’s four recommended strategies and adapting them to local contexts, prevention programs can deepen their impact, strengthen partnerships, and contribute to lasting social change.
Read the full National Prevention Scan Data Report here: https://vawnet.org/material/national-prevention-scan-data-report