The Wayne State University School of Social Work has been awarded nearly $1.8 million dollars from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the grant "Youth Empowerment Solutions for Healthy Relationships: Engaging Youth to Prevent Sexual Violence". The project brings together three principal investigators, Associate Professor Poco Kernsmith, PhD and Assistant Professor of Research, Joanne Smith-Darden, PhD from the Wayne State School of Social Work along with Professor Marc A. Zimmerman, PhD from the University of Michigan Public Health and Psychology. The project will adapt, implement and evaluate an evidence-based program to prevent sexual and dating violence perpetration among youth. The school-based primary prevention program will be infused in the curriculum, with the goal of empowering youth to identify problems in their own communities and build skills to develop student-led prevention initiatives to address those issues. Six schools in the region have agreed to collaborate on the project, as well as partners from the University of Michigan School of Public Health and Department of Psychology, and Michigan Department of Community Health Rape Prevention and Education Program.