Youth Shape the Future: Enhancing Richmond VA’s community-centered framework for reducing gun violence

Richmond suffered 90 homicides in 2021 – the highest average since 2004. Gun violence has a greater impact on young people in Richmond, with the rate of firearm deaths for youth three times the national rate in 2017. Black youth and families in Richmond have consistently experienced higher rates of gun violence, especially in and around Richmond’s isolated public housing communities . The City of Richmond is committed to addressing these concerning trends in and with the communities most marginalized and impacted.

In 2021, Mayor Levar Stoney formally announced an effort to bring a diversity of stakeholders around the table to collaborate on solutions to reduce gun violence in the city, resulting in the Richmond Gun Violence Prevention and Intervention Steering Committee and their subsequently developed “GVPI Framework.”  The Framework is grounded in the principles of Cure Violence Model and targets those individuals directly impacted by gun violence. Richmond’s first Community Safety Coordinator is in place to help coordinate the GVPI Steering Committee and to support the fundamentals of the city’s GVPI Framework. The City seeks to build on the work done by:

Enhancing the Framework and supporting the steering committee with a rigorous strategic plan.
Enhancing, expanding, and integrating key youth prevention and intervention strategies of the framework. Residents were clear during the development of the framework: young people and those that care for them are looking for more positive youth development activities. The programs presented within this application focus on supporting young people at great risk of engaging in negative behaviors and supporting them so that they are able to have productive, thriving lives outside of the justice system. The City intends to leverage this grant opportunity to deepen the scope of programs that are working; implement a new, evidence-based program; and ensure that all components and the agencies that manage them are integrated and supporting one another.                                                                                                                            The City is seeking priority considerations 1a (pages 1, 6-11 ), 2 (page 1), 3, and 4. VCU’s Survey and Evaluation Research Lab has been identified to lead a rigorous independent evaluation of the proposed project. A team from Virginia Commonwealth University led by Dr. Kevin Allison, Ph.D. a complimentary application to “NIJ FY22 Evaluation of OJP Community Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative (CVIPI) Projects” opportunity. Their project title is “Evaluation of Richmond Gun Violence Prevention.”