Moving Further Upstream

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Division of Violence Prevention (DVP) focuses on primary prevention, which is preventing violence before it occurs. In the early 2000s, CDC reviewed theoretical frameworks for sexual violence prevention and sought input from external partners in the field, resulting in CDC’s publication, Sexual Violence Prevention: Beginning the Dialogue (2004).

Originally intended to define and describe prevention concepts and strategies to support CDC’s Rape Prevention and Education (RPE) Program, this foundational document helped to launch a national conversation about moving upstream to prevent violence before it occurs. Prior to this, many violence prevention efforts concentrated on awareness raising and risk reduction. Beginning the Dialogue facilitated a shift that guided the direction of programs to primary prevention. While more than a decade old, Beginning the Dialogue continues to be an essential and frequently used resource for those entering the field of sexual violence prevention.

The goals of Continuing the Dialogue are to:

• Serve as a resource for prevention that is an update to Beginning the Dialogue.
• Reflect how far the field has come in terms of both embracing primary prevention and implementing strategies across the Social Ecological Model.
• Encourage a shift toward cross-sector and community-specific partnerships.
• Highlight the direction in which the prevention field is moving.