Violence Intervention Programs

What is the problem?

Violence intervention programs provide evidence and community-informed, comprehensive support to individuals who are at greatest risk of gunshot victimization. These programs are shown to reduce gunshot wounds and deaths in the neighborhoods most impacted by gun violence.

Gun homicides and assaults occur at high rates within cities, and have a disproportionate impact in historically underfunded neighborhoods within our cities. Gun violence in cities reflects and amplifies this country’s long-standing systemic and structural inequities.

City leaders, local groups, and residents are driving solutions to reduce gun violence and increase safety in their communities. To reduce gun homicides and assaults within cities, leaders and legislators should invest in community-driven, evidence-based interventions.

Community-based violence intervention programs apply a localized approach to gun violence prevention.

The Impact of Local Violence Intervention Programs Report

Violence intervention programs identify those who are at the highest risk and work to reduce violence through targeted interventions. There are several program models being used across the country.

Street Outreach: This program model employs a public health approach to fight violence. The program has street outreach workers who actively work to mediate conflicts and prevent retaliatory violence between those who are at-risk to commit or become the victims of gun violence.

Group Violence Intervention (GVI) programs: This program model utilizes the call-in, a meeting where members of violent groups hear from law enforcement, social service organizations, and community members that the violence must stop. Law enforcement brings a strong message that if violence continues, the perpetrators will be caught and face harsh consequences. Individuals seeking help are connected to social services, including counseling, education programs, and employment opportunities.

Hospital-Based Violence Intervention programs (HVIPs): These programs are located in trauma centers and emergency departments. They engage patients while they are still in the hospital, often just hours after a violent injury, to reduce the chance of retaliation and violent injury recurrence. They are based in the premise that there is a unique window of opportunity to engage victims of violence in the immediate aftermath of a traumatic injury.

By the numbers

14x

Nationwide, a Black man is fourteen times more likely than a white man to be shot to death.

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127

In 2015, half of all U.S. gun homicides took place in just 127 cities containing less than 25 percent of the country’s population.

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25%

In 2015, a quarter of gun homicides in the U.S. occurred in neighborhoods in which less than two percent of the country’s population resides.

stat

Most violence in cities is gang-related.

In reality, although some gun violence is connected to gang activity, gun violence occurs more frequently within informal social networks tied together by the places people live, the schools they attend, and their places of worship. Gun violence within these social networks is further concentrated into a very small percentage of people. This gun violence frequently occurs spontaneously, following a dispute or perceived disrespect, and between people who are known to one other. These encounters become deadly because a gun is present.

Featured Resources

Community-led Public Safety Strategies

Communities affected by gun violence need immediate and locally driven interventions in addition to larger scale policy reform.

Fact Sheet

Communities of color and poverty are being particularly hard hit by the pandemic and are very under-served in terms of information on keeping safe.

How COVID-19 Has Increased the Need for Street Outreach Work

Street outreach teams have long been at the front lines of gun violence prevention work and are now battling two pandemics at once.

Fact Sheet

City Gun Violence Reduction Insight Portal

CityGRIP is an online clearinghouse of data-informed gun violence reduction strategies.

Data Tracker

Funding Summer Youth Programming Prevents Gun Violence

As cities develop their spending plan for American Rescue Plan funds, they should prioritize and plan funding for summer youth engagement an

Fact Sheet

Alternative Dispatch Programs

Creating alternative dispatch options that connect people in crisis with mental health services is key in preventing police gun violence.

Fact Sheet

Invisible Wounds: Gun Violence and Community Trauma among Black Americans

Persistent gun violence is harming too many Black communities in the U.S., contributing to individual, family, and community-level trauma.

Report

Hurdles to Healing: Fixing Victim Compensation Funds

VOCA victim compensation funds are available to survivors of gun violence, but obstacles and restrictions make the funds difficult to access

Fact Sheet

American Rescue Plan for Gun Violence Reduction

For over a year, local officials have been on the front lines responding to the dual public health crises of COVID-19 and gun violence.

Fact Sheet

Community-Led Services for Survivors

Community-led services can assist survivors by responding to incidents of gun violence in their community and providing ongoing care in the

Fact Sheet

Collage of images: person filling form and another person in a wheelchair with someone talking to them

A Deadly Year in Cities — And How Policymakers Can Respond

The surge in gun homicides is an upward trend that is being felt in communities across the nation.

Fact Sheet

Methodological Note: A More Complete Picture

Read the Report A More Complete Picture: The Contours of Gun Injury in the United States Report…

Methodological Note

A More Complete Picture: The Contours of Gun Injury in the United States

Nonfatal gunshot wounds account for an enormous portion of the gun violence epidemic in America.

Report

The Impact of Local Violence Intervention Programs

There are nearly 13,000 gun homicides in the U.S. every year There are nearly 13,000 gun homicides in the U.S. every year.1…

Fact Sheet

Five Ways to Enhance the Gun Violence Prevention Strategy in Your City

Cities that have sustained success preventing gun violence have deployed multi-disciplinary, community-involved approaches to response and prevention. Below are five steps that you can take…

Fact Sheet

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Violence Intervention Programs

Violence Intervention Programs

What is the problem?

Nationwide, a Black man is fourteen times more likely than a white man to be shot to death.

In 2015, half of all U.S. gun homicides took place in just 127 cities containing less than 25 percent of the country’s population.

In 2015, a quarter of gun homicides in the U.S. occurred in neighborhoods in which less than two percent of the country’s population resides.

Myth

Fact