The SAVIR Advocacy and Policy Committee aims to actively promote injury and violence prevention, control and research through the development of specific policy positions and statements. The goals or recommendations of these positions and statements are realized through direct advocacy and broad dissemination to stakeholder groups. Our charge is to collect and disseminate injury research findings; to partner with public and private organizations to educate the public and advocate for research funding and evidence-based policy at the local, state, and federal level; and to help translate injury research into meaningful educational and communication materials for policymakers and other stakeholders.
We are a committee that includes injury and violence researchers and practitioners from across disciplines, areas of expertise, and years of experience. Each year we select a focus area while also broadly working to: create and disseminate policy advocacy tools that can be easily used by the SAVIR membership; facilitate workshops and learning labs at annual SAVIR conferences on skills in advocacy and policy promotion; and, organize and partner with other organizations in direct advocacy, like Hill Days, focused on injury and violence prevention and control.
This year we are organizing SAVIR members in a direct day of action to engage federal policy makers on key issues in injury and violence prevention. The day of action will occur in conjunction with the annual SAVIR conference. We are also working to develop a policy statement to specifically provide guidance and recommendations that ensure the availability and access to the data and tools required for effective injury and violence research.
We are excited to grow our committee membership, and welcome all SAVIR members to join us in our monthly meetings on the first Friday of each month from 3-4pm. For more information or to join us, please reach out to co-Chairs Sara Jacoby, at sfjacoby@nursing.upenn.edu or Kevin Borrup, at kborrup@connecticutchildrens.org for more information.