Memphis Middle Schoolers’ Insight on Youth Violence

Do the Write Thing (DtWT) is a national essay contest for middle school students organized by the National Campaign to Stop Violence. The purported goal of the contest is to “position youth as community catalysts as they examine the root causes and impact of youth violence.” The contest prompts youth to write in any format (non-fictional essays, fictional stories, poetry, etc.) in response to the prompts: What are the causes of youth violence? What can you do to reduce youth violence? How has violence affected your life?

As part of the 2023 DtWT essay contest, 391 essays were submitted from 16 schools across Shelby County. The Memphis YPAR Collaborative convened twelve researchers and community advocates from four different institutions (BRIDGES, Stand for Children, Rhodes College, and University of Memphis) to work together to review the essays, identifying the type(s) of violence named, causes of violence, impacts of violence, and solutions to violence described in each. The causes, impacts, and solutions were grouped to identify themes and overarching categories. The findings were then shared with youth experts to brainstorm recommendations based on the findings of the analysis.