New Orleans Community Violence Intervention Program (NOCVIP)

The City of New Orleans and partners propose to implement the New Orleans Community Violence Intervention Program (NOCVIP). The purpose of NOCVIP is to reduce fatal and nonfatal shootings through applied best practices in community violence interruption alongside strategies that strengthen the community violence intervention ecosystem. Project activities include establishing a team of credible, healing-centered outreach workers trained in mediation and trauma informed approaches, responsible for conflict mediation, mentorship, and life planning/case management for individuals at high risk of involvement in gun violence. They will conduct individual needs assessments and link participants to a range of services including behavioral health, employment, education, housing, and family supports. Project activities include the creation of a comprehensive violence reduction strategic plan; regular review of data; street outreach; community awareness; referrals from partners including law enforcement, community providers, and schools to identify conflicts requiring immediate intervention; and robust program evaluations to ensure success and sustainability.

Expected outcomes include: (1) a reduction in the number of shootings in New Orleans; (2) an increase in conflict mediation with and between individuals at high risk of gun violence; (3) expanded connections of high-risk individuals to needed services; (4) provider training and community dissemination of trauma-informed, healing-centered approaches to violence intervention; and (5) increased coordination across the community to build a cohesive violence intervention ecosystem of care.

The intended beneficiaries are residents of New Orleans neighborhoods experiencing concentrated disadvantage (areas with high rates of poverty, food insecurity, and higher exposure to gun violence or community violence) and Black residents who are over the age of 13 and considered high risk (people who have been shot, have been previously incarcerated, have witnessed violence, and/or have high trauma exposure.

The city has partnered with Tulane University’s Violence Prevention Institute (VPI) for program evaluation. The VPI and its team of expert public health researchers are submitting a companion evaluation application under the NIJ Evaluations of OJP CVIPI Programs FY 2023 solicitation.