Los Angeles County Office of Violence Prevention

Aarti Harper (pronounced Aarthi) currently serves as the Co-Lead for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health’s Trauma Prevention Initiative (TPI). Housed in the Office of Violence Prevention, TPI is a comprehensive, place‐based approach for violence prevention and intervention that invests in community-driven public safety solutions, including peer outreach models and community leadership. Aarti’s career has been centered at the nexus of youth development, public health, and public safety. She also manages OVP’s Parks and Recreation and Youth Development partnerships and co-lead the office’s school safety transformation efforts. Additionally, she serves as the office’s Long Beach liaison, facilitating regional planning and strategic alignment on violence prevention with the County’s second largest city. A native East Coaster, she started her career in Washington DC, working as an adolescent health educator at the Maya Angelou Public Charter High School and Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC, led the DC replication of the national Children’s Aid Society-Carrera Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program and served as a Policy Analyst, advising the DC Deputy Mayor of Education on school health and truancy issues. Once at DPH, prior to her current role, she served as the Health Education Manager for the state Child Health and Disability Prevention Program.