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Michael Walker is a connector - of city and county agencies, law enforcement officials, consultants, educators, and violence prevention experts. He connects and convenes with the goal in mind of working to prevent and lessen violence in communities and to promote youth development opportunities.

He serves as Executive Director for the Partnership for a Safer Cleveland , an organization which has facilitated conversations and worked toward solutions for over 30 years.

"The Partnership’s neutral position makes it an unparalleled means for quickly identifying the real crime and violence issues, finding the community service gaps which allow them to exist, and fast-tracking collaborative solutions before it’s too late," he explained.

We talk often about the work of our Principal Investigators, who are most often our faculty and senior research associates, but behind the scenes are Research Assistants like Chase Klingenstein who provide invaluable assistance to those leading the projects.

Chase has been with the Begun Center since 2016 and is pursuing a graduate degree through CWRU. Recently, he has been working with law enforcement to enhance policing practices.

Daniel J. Flannery Collaborates on Call For Action to End Gun Violence
Deeply concerned about the recent Florida school shooting, a group of 19 prominent experts in violence prevention, Daniel J. Flannery, PhD  among them, has prepared a statement for national dissemination: “ Call for Action to Prevent Gun Violence in the United States of America .”This group is seeking organizations and individual experts in relevant fields (education, mental health, public health, etc.) to endorse this statement.

Trauma-Informed Care: What Happened To You?
TIC is an approach that explicitly acknowledges the role trauma plays in people’s lives. TIC means that every part of an organization or program understands the impact of trauma on the individuals they serve and adopts a culture that considers and addresses this impact.

The work of the Domestic Violence Homicide Prevention team, which includes Jeff Kretschmar, PhD, Ashley Bukach, and Rebecca Bray, was featured in The Cleveland Plain Dealer: Cleveland team tackles 'high risk' domestic violence cases to improve safety, reduce deaths.

The work of the SAKI team was featured in The Tribune-Review, a top Pennsylvania news source: More than 1,200 rape kits sitting idle in Pennsylvania; as well as The Cleveland Plain Dealer: Completed testing of 13,931 rape kits signals progress, unfinished business and investigations remain.

The Marion Star covered an event at The Ohio State University at Marion where Rachel Lovell, PhD, spoke about the findings of the SAKI team when it comes to serial rapists: Serial rapists don't necessarily have an MO.

Daniel J. Flannery, PhD, has been highly sought after in the weeks following the tragic shooting in Parkland, FL, for his expertise in preventing gun violence, especially following the Call For Action he prepared along with 18 colleagues for national dissemination. He was interviewed by:

Flannery also updated a piece he co-authored with Mark Singer, PhD, for The Conversation entitled Here’s how witnessing violence harms children’s mental health
Sarah Fulton (left) was hired in January as Research Associate with special focus on the Begun Center's newest project , the Heroin and Crime Initiative. Welcome, Sarah!

Sarah Limbacher (top, right) was promoted to Research Assistant 2 to continue her work focusing on specialized courts with Margaret Baughman, PhD. Congratulations, Sarah!

Joanna Klingenstein (bottom, right) will start with the Center at the end of March as Research Assistant for the Sexual Assault Kit Investigation team. Welcome, Joanna!
Ashley Bukach Receives Outstanding Collaborative Leadership Award
Research Associate Ashley Bukach co-chairs the Greater Cleveland Elder Abuse/Domestic Violence (EA/DV) Roundtable with Victoria Grant from the Domestic Violence and Child Advocacy Center.

On behalf of the roundtable, Bukach and Grant accepted the 2018 Honorable Thomas A. Swift Outstanding Collaborative Leadership Award at the annual Ohio Coalition for Adult Protective Services (OCAPS) conference in Columbus on March 16.

The Honorable Thomas A. Swift Outstanding Collaborative Leadership Award honors an outstanding individual or group whose work has successfully created, enhanced, or promoted organizational change and effective collaborative practices that address the issue of serving and protecting elder abuse victims across Ohio.  

In 1998, our work began at the Institute for the Study and Prevention of Violence at Kent State University.

In 2000, similar work also began at Case Western Reserve University at the Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education in the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences.

In 2011, the two centers merged at Case Western Reserve University. In 2018, we will recognize 20 years of violence prevention.

Stay tuned for more information on events to learn about and help us honor our work !
Happy Spring from the Begun Center staff and students!