Building CVI Resources for a Stronger Field

“Community Violence Intervention” (CVI) approaches have gained attention in recent years, but the concept is not new. Wherever community violence is found, there are also groups of people and individuals working to stop violence. Some agencies and strategies are well-known across the country, but in far more places, this work goes unnoticed to outsiders, even though it is critically important to the people who live, work and play in the community. When done well, CVI brings together a wide range of community partners to identify their roles in violence reduction, coordinate with each other, and form a holistic approach that focuses intervention efforts on the people and places most impacted by community violence and supplements that work with critical prevention activities. As one of the lead authors of BJA’s new CVI Checklist, which offers definitions, principles and concrete action steps, LISC Safety & Justice (LISC) helped create a valuable resource for local practitioners seeking to understand and implement CVI approaches. LISC now proposes to build on that work with an award under Category 7: the CVIPI Resource and Field Support Center (CVIPI Center). 

LISC will approach the design and implementation of the CVIPI Center using the TTA model its team has built using lessons learned serving as a national TTA provider for DOJ-funded place-based, school-based and rural crime reduction programs. LISC will deploy its Safety & Justice staff and contract with its diverse array of CVI subject matter expert (SME) partners to develop quality, practical, evidence-based/evidence- informed CVI resources building upon the steps identified in the CVIPI Checklist and supporting and guiding practitioners as they use the checklist. LISC will accomplish this work by establishing a dedicated CVIPI Center website and offering tailored TTA to jurisdictions that are not part of a CVIPI site-based program.

The CVIPI Center will engage and connect localities, practitioners, and law enforcement partners with experts in the field while coordinating with BJA, other OJP agencies and CVIPI TTA partners to offer a wide array of evidence-based/informed research and practical resources on the development and practice of CVI. The CVIPI Center will help people understand the root causes of community violence, the connections to historical racial and social inequity, and primary and secondary trauma that results. It will reinforce the importance of partnership and collaboration for effective responses and build a community of practice that will benefit from resources provided.