Massachusetts Community Violence Intervention Capacity Building Initiative (MCVI-CBI)

Based in Boston, Health Resources in Action (HRiA) is a national public health organization with more than 65 years of prevention, health promotion, policy, and research experience and extensive technical and practical expertise in CVI strategies. HRiA will develop and implement the Massachusetts Community Violence Intervention Capacity Building Initiative (MCVI-CBI). Aligning with the goals of the BJA, the MCVI-CBI fulfills the requirements of Category 4, Capacity Building for CBOs via Intermediary Organizations. To achieve BJA’s and HRiA’s shared goal of preventing and reducing violent crime in communities, the MCVI-CBI has four primary objectives: Award and administer five subawards to Massachusetts -based CBOs implementing CVI strategies, provide TTA to support CVI strategy implementation among selected grantees, build the capacity of funded CBOs to strengthen and financially sustain CVI strategies, and establish and maintain an online resource to allow funded CBOs and other interested partners to search and access knowledge products to support the diffusion of innovation and the replication of evidence-based CVI practices. HRiA’s scope of work is divided into two capacity-building action steps. Action Step 1, Formative Evaluation and Subaward Administration, includes the following activities: Conduct gap assessment, develop request for proposals process, and conduct CBO selection process. Action Step 2, Provision of CVI Strategy Support Services, includes the following activities: create a project management and communication plan, complete grantee capacity needs assessments, develop a TTA/capacity building program, and measure the impact of TA/capacity building. Aligning with national best practices, HRiA prioritizes CVI solutions that bolster participant motivation and understanding of how systems change must engage those community members most disenfranchised from systems-level decision-making and, therefore, impacted by community violence. HRiA has a national reputation for excellence and extensive experience providing oversight of request for proposal (RFP) processes, applicant outreach, and technical assistance, convening and facilitating review panels, processing grant awards, administering grant funds, and overseeing and reviewing post-award reporting.