Evaluation of a Community-focused Violence Intervention and Prevention Program

RTI International will conduct a 4- year, mixed methods implementation and quasi experimental impact evaluation of a community-based violence intervention and prevention initiative (CVIPI) expansion and enhancement in Greensboro, North Carolina. The existing Community Connectors (CC) program emphasizes police and community resource partnerships including healthcare, education, employment, and reentry to address community needs and violence at multiple levels. Through its corresponding Office of Justice Programs (OJP) proposal, Greensboro will expand the CC program, which is currently focused in one high crime neighborhood and disadvantaged elementary school, into a second, similar neighborhood and will add a new programming component focused on individuals at greatest risk for violence perpetration or victimization, including the use of credible messengers, intensive case management, trauma counseling, and connection to an array of needed services and resources. This CVIPI is a hybrid model involving community- and hospital-based violence prevention and intervention, as well as connecting community members to social services and resources. The Greensboro Police Department (GPD)’s role in connecting community members to social services and resources attempts to improve community conditions and improve police community relations and partnerships. The program plans to reduce violence in target populations by addressing basic needs; supporting and better connecting schools, students, and parents; addressing trauma in the immediate aftermath of shootings; and building trust between residents and local law enforcement.

The evaluation will examine implementation of the program components; measure changes in violence, other crime, perceptions of safety and police legitimacy, and related outcomes at the individual and neighborhood level; understand how program components or mechanisms contribute to improved outcomes, and examine whether the program help to improve police-community relations and resident attitudes toward police. This evaluation will collaborate and coordinate with the program’s local research partners and leverage RTI’s existing professional partnerships in Greensboro to obtain data on neighborhoods, organizations, and individuals in the city.

RTI will use criminal justice, hospitalization, case management, and resident survey data to compare changes in outcomes between the treated neighborhoods and individuals and neighborhoods and individuals selected to serve as equivalent control groups. CA/NCF