Community-Led Learning: A Collaborative Approach to Training and Technical Assistance for Violent Crime Problem Analyses

Proposal Abstract
Violence that spills over into the community can have long-lasting health and economic impacts. Many communities have sought out alternatives to an increased law-enforcement presence to address community violence. One alternative is community violence interventions (CVI) that seek to reduce violence by building relationships within the community between community stakeholders, such as community-based organizations (CBO), law enforcement, units of local government (ULG), and the community members who may be most at-risk for perpetuating violence or becoming a victim of violence. Due to the wide range of community violence drivers, CVI strategies are tailored to the needs and resources of a community. However, identifying and tailoring CVI strategies require a substantial investment of resources and time that many CBOs and ULGs do not possess.
ISLG proposes to provide training and technical assistance (TTA) to at least four CBOs and ULGs under Category 2: Training and Technical Assistance to Support Violent Crime Problem Analyses of Jurisdictions not Funded under the OJP FY22 and FY23 CVIPI Solicitations. Through this work, ISLG aims to help communities reduce violence using a community and data driven approach. To accomplish this, over a four-year period, ISLG will develop a solicitation and selection process to reach CBOs and ULGs most in need of TTA, assist with a needs assessment, and provide TTA regarding violent crime analyses, developing a strategic plan to address community violence, and dissemination. ISLG will utilize an iterative approach that emphasizes input and participation from the community and will incorporate a racial equity lens to assess the impacts of the proposed strategies on racial equity and to identify and minimize any possible unintended consequences that may exacerbate existing racial/ethnic disparities.
In addition, ISLG will employ a Learning Collaborative Model that is rooted in peer-to-peer learning and the principles of quality improvement by utilizing ongoing data collection and analysis to drive the identification of problems and gaps, and to inform decision-making. Learning Collaboratives will be established at each site, as well as across all the sites. The site-specific Learning Collaboratives will be composed of the selected site, community stakeholders, academic researchers, and community members who have been directly impacted by community violence. The purpose of the site-specific Learning Collaborative will be to establish ongoing local support and resource-sharing. The initiative-wide Learning Collaborative will include each selected site, ISLG team members, and a convened Advisory Committee, and will provide a forum for peer-to-peer learning and additional TTA.