One Vision One Life Evaluation (RAND Proposal 2006-0148)

This study will evaluate Pittsburgh's One Vision One Life Program (OVOL), a community-based violence prevention program modeled after Chicago's Operation Ceasefire. The program includes problem-solving, homicide incident reviews, public and private responses to all homicides, collaborative partnerships, programs for at-risk youth, conflict intervention and mediation through the use of street workers and street intelligence, public education, and community mobilization and outreach. OVOL was implemented in four Pittsbutgh neighborhoods beginning in May 2004. Program activity data will be collected and analyzed to assess the form, substance, and dosage of the program's implementation. Analyses of secondary program data, interviews and focus groups of key stakeholders, and ethnography of program activities will also be conducted. Program outcome measures will include homicide and aggravated assault levels as well as subsets of these offenses committed with a gun and shootings. The evaluation will assess whether these crimes were reduced following program implementation, compared to matched control neighborhoods. Crime displacement and diffusion of program impacts will also be examined. CA/NCF