Collaboration & Investment: The Future of Community Violence Intervention (CVI) in DC
By Kirby Gaherty, Senior Fellow, Community Safety & Harm Reduction
In September, Community Foundation staff joined ONSE leadership to announce a matching grant partnership for Gun Violence Prevention Mini-Grants recipients.
After pandemic related spikes, many cities across the country are seeing historic reductions in homicides involving firearms. Here in the nation’s capital, 2024 brought about a 35% reduction in violence. While this is promising, violence remains a crisis that requires a commitment to action and resources from all levels of government. News cycles and campaign ads often center rhetoric around crime and violence to invoke fear. To truly make a lasting impact, there needs to be an ongoing conversation that is supported by commitments and actions that uplift proven solutions and evidence-based strategies.
Community violence intervention (CVI) strategies have existed for decades but in recent years, increased funding, support, and evaluation led to more traction and uptake across the country.
While models vary, typically, CVI relies on professionally trained violence interventionists to work in communities most impacted by violence to develop and maintain relationships (with particular attention to those identified as most at risk for engaging in or experiencing violence). These trusted professionals then leverage those relationships to intervene in and prevent violent incidents. Other models take place within hospitals and provide intervention services to those wounded by a gunshot in efforts to reduce reinjury and retaliation. Often, several interventions and models come together to form an ecosystem that works across systems and sectors.
CVI strategies have proven to be effective in several cities that have seen a demonstrated impact, including:
Baltimore, MD has utilized a variety of CVI strategies to reduce gun violence inclusive of their Safe Streets program and a Group Violence Reduction Strategy (GVRS). In the last year, these strategies when paired with law enforcement have reduced homicides by over 30%.
St Louis, MO had 160 homicides in 2023, the lowest number since 2014. In August 2024, there were 10 homicides, which is a 23% decrease from the year prior. The St Louis Office of Violence Prevention and its community partners were integral in these declines by leaning into data, evaluation, and CVI strategies.
Newark, NJ saw a 32% reduction in shootings in 2022 and has seen a more than 50% reduction in homicides in the past decade. This reduction has been fueled by investments in the city’s Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery (OVPTR), The Newark Community Street Team, and the Brick City Peace Collective.
DC’s CVI ecosystem has been credited with contributing to the declines in homicides in the city over the last year. 7 of the city’s 10 Cure the Streets sites saw significant reductions in homicides and assaults with a deadly weapon. Further support for local CVI work would accelerate solutions that do not lean solely on arrests and incarceration to address this as a public health crisis. DC’s Chief of Police, Pamela Smith stated: “Violence interrupters have been very instrumental in supporting us, I believe, with the crime reduction that you have seen across the District of Columbia.”
Philanthropy has been an integral part of this work in many cities and can further support and advocate for its advancement. Here at The Greater Washington Community Foundation, we are collaborating with local partners like Peace for DC, NAARC, Federal City Council, Public Welfare Foundation, and local government to further accelerate the city’s community safety ecosystem.
Highlights of our work at the close of 2024 include:
Alongside the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) and Peace for DC we participated in the CF Leads Gun Violence Prevention Network (which will come to an end in February 2025) to learn from cities across the country about how community foundations can forge meaningful collaboratives toward safety;
In collaboration with Public Welfare Foundation, we hosted an engagement event on September 18, 2024, where over 40 people joined us in a discussion about creating and implementing a comprehensive violence reduction plan for DC;
In October 2024, we met and forged a partnership with Deputy Mayor for Public Safety, Lindsey Appiah and the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (ONSE);
In November 2024, we firmed up a cross-sector Leadership Council to support in the development of a community safety agenda for DC;
At several points this Fall, we attended and presented at both local and national convenings inclusive of Cities United’s Annual Convening in Seattle, WA, an ANC-led webinar for DC residents and Federal City Council’s Emerging Leaders Program.
We are moving this work forward with intention, recognizing that our region is in a time of transition – new leadership and shifting dynamics are shaping the landscape. While the field has made significant progress, we know that with new administrations often come shifts in policy and priorities, which could threaten this momentum. That’s why we are committed to encouraging alignment, tracking our efforts, and remaining responsive to these changes and the evolving needs of our community.
If you’d like to learn more about these efforts, we will be hosting a webinar designed to provide our donors and fundholders with useful information about CVI strategies, the role of local and national philanthropy, and an update on our progress here in DC.