Abstract for: Convening stakeholders to explore drivers of gun violence and potential strategies for violence reduction in Cincinnati, Ohio

Gun violence is the leading cause of death for children and adolescents in the United States. This statistic reflects a complex, dynamic system driving gun violence. Multiple individual interventions have been tried across cities without substantial reductions in violence. These realities underly the need for systems science approaches to address this public health crisis. We convened a diverse group of stakeholders in Cincinnati, Ohio to build a collective understanding of the system driving gun violence over a two-day workshop. Utilizing group model building, including graphs over time, connection circles, causal mapping, and action ideas; we sought to build a shared model depicting drivers of gun violence in our Midwest city. Group model building resulted in a synthesized causal loop diagram. Key insights from model development were: 1) each individual has key financial, social and emotional needs; 2) there are gaps in the ability to meet these needs; 3) as a result, individuals develop survival mode behaviors; 4) personal and intergenerational violence has an ongoing impact; and 5) structural racism and disinvestment from communities impacts community power. The use of group model building methods to develop a causal loop diagram had two main impacts: building a sense of collective action among often disparate actors AND creation of a shared understanding of the current system. This work has catalyzed further action and accelerated existing efforts through a city- wide strategy for violence reduction. These tools can be used to pragmatically accelerate efforts to address critical societal challenges.