Who We Are

The Healthy Youth Development • Prevention Research Center (PRC) collaborates with state and local organizations and communities to provide training, conduct research, and disseminate findings related to best practices in healthy youth development.

Organizational Background

The Healthy Youth Development Prevention Research Center (PRC) is a collaborative effort by the Schools of Medicine, Public Health, and Nursing. The PRC at the University of Minnesota is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which supports 33 Prevention Research Centers (PRCs) at universities across the country. All of the PRCs share the fundamental goals of advancing the fields of health promotion and disease prevention by:

• Focusing on high-priority health issues;
• Bridging gaps between scientific knowledge and public health practice;
• Applying and rapidly transferring research results; and
• Enhancing cooperation between academic colleges and universities and state and local health departments, health-related agencies and organizations.

Originally funded in 1996 as the National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Research Center, the current name was adopted in the fall of 2004 to more accurately reflect the scope of research that the center conducts.

Training: Best Practices in Adolescent Health

The Healthy Youth Development PRC provides training about best practices in adolescent health by offering:

• Formal training to undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Minnesota;
• Continuing education programs to health practitioners including nurses, physicians, youth workers, nutritionists, teachers, psychologists, social workers, and others working with adolescents;
• Technical assistance to communities, health departments, and youth-serving agencies; and
• Health education programs to youth in urban neighborhoods.

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Research: Collaborating with Communities

The Healthy Youth Development PRC has conducted a variety of research projects with community partners to understand why teens engage in risky behavior and how we can help them make better, healthier decisions.

Faculty and staff of the Healthy Youth Development PRC are involved in other research projects, including studies of:

• Violence among youth;
• Sexual risk-taking among teens;
• The relationship of domestic violence and pregnancy intention;
• Health risk behavior among local urban Native American youth
• Contraceptive use among local teens;
• How adolescents feel about pregnancy and childbearing.

Dissemination: Getting the Word Out

A key goal for the PRCs is to make research findings available to communities in formats that allow research to be translated into action. To that end, the Healthy Youth Development PRC:

• Communicates research findings to local, state, and federal policy-makers to advocate for more effective programs for young people;
• Collaborates with local media to help them understand the impact of research findings;
• Translates, publishes, and disseminates research findings into easily accessible publications for youth and other lay audiences;
• Analyzes and disseminates best strategies for school-based, teen pregnancy prevention programs;
• Identifies and disseminates best clinical practices for adolescent health care; and
• Analyzes and disseminates data from a nationwide comprehensive survey of adolescent health risk behaviors.

All of these activities contribute to the Healthy Youth Development Prevention Research Center's mission of promoting youth development as a powerful strategy for reducing poor health outcomes in youth and decreasing the health disparities among Minnesota's youth of color.

Contact Us

The Healthy Youth Development Prevention Research Center
Division of Adolescent Health & Medicine
Department of Pediatrics
717 Delaware Street SE, 3rd Floor
Minneapolis, MN 55414-2959

Phone: (612) 625-1674
Fax: (612) 626-2134
Email: prc@umn.edu

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