What is Community Violence Intervention
Community violence generally happens outside the home in public spaces. Most community violence involves a relatively small number of people as victims or perpetrators. Still, its effects impact entire communities, eroding public health, causing economic disruption, and contributing to lasting individual and community traumas. Mitigation efforts typically focus on high-risk individuals, gun violence, specific violent crime problems, as well as the historical and structural challenges that often result in community violence.
Strategies
Community violence intervention (CVI) is an approach that uses evidence-informed strategies to reduce violence through tailored community-centered initiatives. These multidisciplinary strategies engage individuals and groups to prevent and disrupt cycles of violence and retaliation, and establish relationships between individuals and community assets to deliver services that save lives, address trauma, provide opportunity, and improve the physical, social, and economic conditions that drive violence.
Guiding Principles
Community Centered
The CVI approach must be informed by and tailored to community residents and stakeholders, and everyone involved must prioritize the community's needs. This means social service partners are engaged to align and collaborate with residents and law enforcement partners to reduce violence and build community.
Evidence Informed
Each CVI strategy should be built using evidence generated by multiple disciplines and a variety of methods. Evidence used to support a CVI program may include findings from research and evaluation, case studies, expert opinions, or documented lessons learned from the field. Ideally, a CVI program will engage in research and evaluation to help build the evidence base for what works.
Equitable and Inclusive
Care must be taken to guarantee the community members most affected and most disenfranchised are included in creating CVI solutions and benefiting from them.
Effective and Sustainable
CVI programs must demonstrate measurable impacts on violence and community wellbeing, and they must have access to resources that enable responses to new and ongoing challenges over time.
OJP Support
In FY2022, the Department of Justice launched the Community Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative (CVIPI), a historic federal investment in community violence Intervention programs. This initiative seeks to prevent and reduce violent crime in communities by supporting comprehensive, evidence-based violence intervention and prevention programs based on partnerships among community residents, local government agencies, victim service providers, community-based organizations, law enforcement, hospitals, researchers, and other community stakeholders.
These historic investments in community violence intervention strategies support community infrastructure and expand the role of community partners as a complement to law enforcement.
— Amy Solomon, Assistant Attorney General
The Office of Justice Programs and several of its program offices—the Bureau of Justice Assistance, National Institute of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and Office for Victims of Crime—are taking a collaborative approach to help ensure jurisdictions have access to expertise and resources to address community violence.
OJP Funding
In FY 2022 and FY 2023, OJP awarded nearly $200 million in CVIPI grants, which are funded in part through dedicated resources from the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.
Current Funding
FY24 Office of Justice Programs Community Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative Site-Based
Community-Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative (CVIPI) Research and Evaluation
| APPLICANT | STATE | FISCAL YEAR |
|---|---|---|
| Acenda, Inc. | NJ | 2022 |
| Alliance of Concerned Men | DC | 2022 |
| Black Mental Health Alliance | MD | 2022 |
| Building Opportunities for Self Sufficiency | CA | 2022 |
| Centro C.H.A. | CA | 2022 |
| Children and Youth JusticeCenter | WA | 2022 |
| Circle of Brotherhood | FL | 2022 |
| Community Network Services | VA | 2022 |
| Connie Rice Institute for Urban Peace | CA | 2022 |
| Exodus Transitional Community | NY | 2022 |
| Getting Out & Staying Out Inc. NY | NY | 2022 |
| HMH Hospitals Corporation | NJ | 2022 |
| The Living Classrooms Foundation | MD | 2022 |
| Metropolitan Family Services | IL | 2022 |
| NCYouth Violence Prevention Cent | NC | 2022 |
| New Kensington Community Development Corporation | PA | 2022 |
| Newark Community Street Team | NJ | 2022 |
| Nonviolent Peaceforce | MN | 2022 |
| Osborne Association | NY | 2022 |
| Prevention Education, Inc. | NJ | 2022 |
| Reclamation & Restoration Ministries | LA | 2022 |
| ROCA, Inc. | MD | 2022 |
| Taller Salud, Inc. | PR | 2022 |
| Advance Peace | CA | 2023 |
| Center For Hope | MD | 2023 |
| Cleveland Peacemakers Inc | OH | 2023 |
| Community Of Change,Inc | VA | 2023 |
| Emory University | GA | 2023 |
| Fresno County Economic Opportunities Commission | CA | 2023 |
| Greater Baybrook Alliance, Inc | MD | 2023 |
| Jail to Jobs | TX | 2023 |
| Michigan Public Health Institute | MI | 2023 |
| Opportunities For Individual Change,Incorporated | OH | 2023 |
| Peace For DC | DC | 2023 |
| Prisma Health-Midlands | SC | 2023 |
| Providence Health System-Southern California | CA | 2023 |
| Roca Inc | MA | 2023 |
| The Reverence Project | CA | 2023 |
| UTEC, Inc | MA | 2023 |
| APPLICANT | STATE | FISCAL YEAR |
|---|---|---|
| Alameda County | CA | 2022 |
| Buncombe County | NC | 2022 |
| City of BatonRouge | LA | 2022 |
| City of Cleveland | OH | 2022 |
| City of Flint | MI | 2022 |
| City of Greensboro | NC | 2022 |
| City of Hartford | CT | 2022 |
| City of Jacksonville | FL | 2022 |
| City of Kansas City | MO | 2022 |
| City of Los Angeles | CA | 2022 |
| City of Omaha | NE | 2022 |
| City of Rapid City | SD | 2022 |
| City of Richmond | VA | 2022 |
| City of Syracuse | NY | 2022 |
| City of Tampa | FL | 2022 |
| City of Tucson | AZ | 2022 |
| Contra Costa County | CA | 2022 |
| DeKalb County | GA | 2022 |
| Fulton County | GA | 2022 |
| Harris County | TX | 2022 |
| Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office | IL | 2022 |
| Leon County | FL | 2022 |
| Salt Lake County | UT | 2022 |
| Allegheny County | PA | 2023 |
| Boston Public Health Commission | MA | 2023 |
| City of Birmingham | AL | 2023 |
| City of Knoxville | TN | 2023 |
| City of New Haven | CT | 2023 |
| City of New Orleans | LA | 2023 |
| City of Orlando | FL | 2023 |
| Louisville-Jefferson County Metro Government | KY | 2023 |
| Nashville Davidson County Metropolitan Government | TN | 2023 |
| APPLICANT | STATE | FISCAL YEAR |
|---|---|---|
| Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority | IL | 2023 |
| New Jersey Department of Law &Public Safety | NJ | 2023 |
| North Carolina Department of Public Safety | NC | 2023 |
| Washington State Department of Commerce | WA | 2023 |
| APPLICANT | STATE | FISCAL YEAR |
|---|---|---|
John Jay College of Criminal Justice Research and Evaluation Center Evaluation of Osbourne Association site-based award | NY | 2022 |
RTI International Evaluation of City of Greensboro site-based award | NC | 2022 |
| American Institutes for Research in the Behavioral Sciences | VA | 2023 |
| Northwestern University | IL | 2023 |
Suffolk University Evaluation of Boston Public Health Commission site-based award | MA | 2023 |
Tulane University Evaluation of City of New Orleans site-based award | LA | 2023 |
| University of Missouri System | MO | 2023 |
| APPLICANT | STATE | FISCAL YEAR |
|---|---|---|
Latino Coalition for Community Leadership Sub-award recipients: | CO | 2022 |
Local Initiative Support Corporation Sub-award recipients: | NY | 2022 |
Metropolitan Family Services Sub-award recipients: | IL | 2022 |
Children and Youth JusticeCenter Sub-award recipients forthcoming | WA | 2023 |
Equal Justice USA, Inc Sub-award recipients forthcoming | NY | 2023 |
Health Resources in Action, Inc Sub-award recipients forthcoming | MA | 2023 |
National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform Sub-award recipients forthcoming | CA | 2023 |
| APPLICANT | STATE | FISCAL YEAR |
|---|---|---|
| Community Based Public Safety Collective | NJ | 2022 |
| Heartland Alliance | IL | 2022 |
| Local Initiative Support Corporation | NY | 2022 |
| Research Foundation of the City University of New York | NY | 2023 |
| The Urban Institute | DC | 2023 |
Past Funding Opportunities
FY 2023 Office of Justice Programs Community Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative
- Grants.gov deadline: May 18, 2023, 8:59 p.m. ET
- JustGrants deadline: May 25, 2023, 8:59 p.m. ET
FY 2022 Office of Justice Programs Community Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative
- Grants.gov deadline: June 16, 2022, 8:59 p.m. ET
- JustGrants deadline: June 21, 2022, 8:59 p.m. ET
- Grants.gov deadline: May 22, 2023, 11:59 p.m. ET
- JustGrants deadline: June 5, 2023, 8:59 p.m. ET
- Grants.gov deadline: June 7, 2022, 11:59 p.m. ET
- JustGrants deadline: June 21, 2022, 8:59 p.m. ET
View all NIJ CVIPI projects
OJP Resources
Train
Visit the National CVIPI Resource Center to request training and technical assistance from CVI experts.
Checklist
A step-by-step checklist for community led and evidence informed strategies.
Glossary
Definitions of terms associated with community violence intervention
Learn More
Explore the extensive community based violence intervention and prevention catalog from communities stories, fact sheets, webinars, and more.