Begun Bulletin | March 2019

The Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education , led by Daniel J. Flannery, PhD , has been home to a distinguished group of applied community-based research, evaluation, training, and technical assistance specialists for more than 20 years. With grants and contracts totaling nearly $6 million , our center serves as a research partner to various local, state and national non-profit, foundation and government organizations to learn innovative ways to address some of society's most pressing problems by:

promoting social justice and community development by conducting interdisciplinary research on the causes and prevention of violence;
educating and training social workers, teachers, law enforcement and other professionals
developing and evaluating evidence-based best practices in violence prevention; and intervention that seek to understand the influence of mental health, substance use, trauma, youth development and related issues.

Supporting our mission are two embedded centers - the Center for Innovative Practices (CIP) and the Partnership for Evaluation, Research, and Implementation (PERI) , that provide local and state-wide social service agencies with training, implementation, and evaluation services.

Reducing Health Disparities Among Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Individuals

Research has shown repeatedly that transgender people are more at risk for poor health outcomes than the general population, and Ohio is consistent with larger national trends of transgender people having negative interactions in healthcare settings, often related to stigma and misunderstanding. Gender nonconforming individuals may face even greater challenges in receiving inappropriate care.

The LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland is partnering with a Begun Center team led by Misty Luminais to improve quality of life by reducing health disparities suffered by transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) individuals though increasing their access to and use of primary health care.

Read more about these efforts to reduce health disparities in the TGNC community.

Nearly $1 million grant to equip ‘first social responders,’ help at-risk kids

An enhanced partnership among the Begun Center, Cleveland Division of Police, Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority Police, and Beech Brook behavioral health agency focuses on reducing juvenile-related crimes through intervention and family services.

The federal grant allows officers to serve as “first social responder” teams to intervene with youth offenders and their families. The approach represents further development of a strategy to address juvenile crime with intervention and prevention rather than just punishment. Begun Center's Mark Singer and his team will collect data and evaluate the effectiveness and impact of the program.

Read more about how this program will help at-risk youth.

‘Signaling’ change in sexual assault cases

Police officers may use “signaling” language in sexual assault reports—occasionally dropping hints about the validity of the victim’s claims—that possibly influences an investigation’s outcome.

That’s according to Rachel Lovell and Misty Luminais, who will lead a team of researchers who already studied more than 1,100 untested sexual assault kits over a 16-year period. Now, supported by a $715,000 grant from the National Institute of Justice, they will analyze more than 6,300 police reports of sexual assault in Cleveland, collected between 1993 and 2009.

Read more about the team's plan to analyze police reports for 'signaling'.

Jane Timmons-Mitchell

Part of a panel of violence prevention experts: "How can we reduce gun violence in Cleveland," moderated by Peter Krouse. The Cleveland Plain Dealer published an article about the event: Public forum on ways to prevent gun violence to be held at CWRU on Tuesday Watch the full video of the panel presentation here. (pictured)

Interviewed by Christian Science Monitor: Yes, you can discuss politics at the holiday table. Here’s how.

Wrote an article for Psychology Today: When Kids Don't Want to Clean Up

Misty Luminais

Presented at the CWRU Social Justice Teach In: "With the Best Intentions: Unintended Consequences of Fighting Human Trafficking" (pictured)

Mark Singer

Interviewed by News 5 Cleveland: Police in Cleveland take on role of social first responder (pictured)

Wrote an opinion piece that was picked up by both Stow Patch and Strongsville Patch: OPINION: Migrant Children, Our Children

Jeff Kretschmar

Interviewed by News 5 Cleveland State rep. introduces domestic violence bill named after slain school teacher Aisha Fraser

Interviewed by News 5 Cleveland: Former judge Lance Mason pleads not guilty to charges related to ex-wife's death

Interviewed by the CWRU Observer: Community partnership helps human trafficking victims

Daniel J. Flannery

Provided the keynote address, "Multi-Level Approaches to School Based Violence Prevention: What Can Social Workers Do?" at the Ohio School Social Work Association Safe Schools, Safe Kids conference. (pictured)

Interviewed by the Cleveland Plain Dealer: “Stand your ground” debate begs larger discussion about race, Cleveland legislator says

Interviewed by the Cleveland Plain Dealer: Browns signing of Kareem Hunt shows sports lags in #MeToo movement and News 5 Cleveland (pictured)

Rachel Lovell

With Joanna Klingenstein and Liuhong Yang (doctoral student), published an article in the Center for Evidence Based Crime Policy's Translational Criminology Magazine: Testing Sexual Assault Kits Saves Money and Prevents Future Sexual Assaults

Presented at the CWRU School of Law: "Law, Technology, and Protection from Violence Against Women: Can Innovation Flip the Script on this Dialogue?"

Interviewed by Cleveland 19 News: Cleveland 19 investigates downtown rape of woman (pictured)

Interviewed by USA Today: 11 rapes, 4 states, 1 suspect: The ‘extraordinarily improbable’ defense of Calvin Kelly. This piece was picked up by and reprinted nationwide by Lansing State Journal (MI), Indianapolis Star (IN), Asbury Park Press (NJ), Pensacola News Journal (FL), Fort Myers News-Press (FL), Knoxville News-Sentinel (TN), Cincinnati Enquirer (OH), Rapids Daily Tribune (WI), Journal News (NY), Burlington Free Press (VT).

The work of the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative team was highlighted by WMBF News - South Carolina: Thousands of rape kits remain untested across the country