Cure4Camden

The Center for Family Services (CFS), Southern New Jersey’s oldest and largest social services agency, has assembled an impressive set of partners to launch an intensive effort to reduce violence and improve overall public safety in Camden, New Jersey. The proposed CVIPI Program is a partnership between CFS, Camden County Prosecutor’s Office, Camden County Police Department, Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, and other partners. Led by CFS, this multi-disciplinary collaborative will replicate the evidence-based Cure Violence Global model (CVG) to combat violence through prevention, intervention, enforcement, and reentry. CVG is guided by the understanding that violence is a public health issue, that individuals and communities can transform themselves, and that community partners and strategic partnerships are keys to success. Through a rigorous, scientific, and data-driven approach, CVG can help communities implement violence interruption programs effective in significantly reducing violence using disease control and behavior change methods. CFS proposes to expand the work started by the City of Camden in 2013 using the CVG model to stem the spread of gun violence citywide. Known as Cure4Camden, CFS proposes to reduce gun violence in the city’s current neighborhood hotspots Whitman Park, Liberty Park, North Camden by using specially trained outreach workers to mitigate conflict, prevent and interrupt violent situations. The model uses a public health approach and relies on outreach workers, violence interrupters, faith leaders, and other community leaders to intervene with high-risk individuals and promote alternatives to violence. Cure4Camden will use a public education campaign, events, and community mobilization to change norms regarding violence, provide alternatives to violence, and increase awareness among youth and young adults of perceived risks and costs of violence.