The core concepts in youth violence prevention include the creation of conditions, opportunities, and experiences that encourage and develop healthy youth, as well as community needs assessment, strategic planning, design and implementation of an evidence-based program, and evaluation of efforts. The Surgeon General recommends that a comprehensive community-wide program for preventing youth violence should encompass three types of prevention strategies: primary strategies, which target all youth in the general population; secondary strategies, which target youth identified as at risk for violent behavior; and tertiary strategies, which target youth who have already engaged in violent behavior. This booklet also outlines the factors that put youth at risk for violence, as well as protective factors most likely to restrain youth from behaving violently. The section of the booklet on "community readiness" for a youth violence prevention initiative focuses on three stages that may precede community readiness: no awareness, denial, and vague awareness. It notes that models are available to help assess a community's readiness for change. The booklet then presents a strategic planning model, which is a comprehensive planning and evaluation process, framed around a series of questions that incorporate the basic elements of program planning, implementation, evaluation, and sustainability. The questions pertain to needs, goals, best practices, fit, the plan, capacities, process evaluation, outcome evaluation, improvement, and sustaining a successful program. A listing of 11 resources