Interrupting Violence in Youth and Young Adults in Atlanta

The Interrupting Violence in Youth and Young Adults (IVYY) project is a hospital-based violence intervention program at Grady Health System in Atlanta, Georgia. IVYY aims to prevent and reduce violent crime in communities across the metropolitan Atlanta area. The purpose of this proposal is the expansion of IVYY through three program goals. First, we will cultivate a community violence intervention (CVI) ecosystem by convening multisectoral stakeholders. Second, IVYY will address the CVI ecosystem needs by creating a Violence Reduction Strategic Plan for the metropolitan Atlanta research, collection, and analysis of data pertaining to community violence. Lastly, IVYY will reduce the risk of recurrent injury for patients aged 14–34 years who are treated for a firearm injury across multiple domains: within the hospital, in the ambulatory setting, and in the community. Expected outcomes include support of the Circle of Safety (a multidisciplinary coalition of stakeholders), creation of the IVYY Community Advisory Board, expansion of the evidence informed hospital based violent injury prevention program, and the identification of gaps in community violence assessment in Atlanta.
This proposal is a collaboration of academic institutions, a hospital system, and the community. Emory University will act as the fiduciary agency and as a regulatory and academic partner alongside Morehouse School of Medicine, because both institutions work at Grady and serve the surrounding the community. Grady houses Atlanta’s only Level 1 Trauma Center. Grady is the site where IVYY’s hospital-based violence intervention will occur. The IVYY team is embedded in the health care system and will operationalize the program’s model with fidelity. Urban Health Initiative is an academic center within Emory University and will serve as a conduit between academia and numerous community partners; Dr. Charles Moore, director of UHI, will lead a community advisory board comprised of members of the Circle of Safety, survivors, and grassroots community organizations.
By targeting individuals at highest risk for violent injury and with the highest need for wraparound services and other resources, we anticipate that the IVYY project and the Atlanta CVI ecosystem - the Circle of Safety, will lead to a reduction in violence and injury at the individual and community levels over the 3-year duration of this funding opportunity. All duties will be performed with the utmost transparency, integrity, love, and effectiveness.