Community-led violence prevention

Before making investments in this strategy, city and county leaders should ensure this strategy addresses local needs.

The Urban Institute and Mathematica have developed indicator frameworks to help local leaders assess conditions related to upward mobility, identify barriers, and guide investments to address these challenges. These indicator frameworks can serve as a starting point for self-assessment, not as a comprehensive evaluation, and should be complemented by other forms of local knowledge.

The Urban Institute's Upward Mobility Framework identifies a set of key local conditions that shape communities’ ability to advance upward mobility and racial equity. Local leaders can use the Upward Mobility Framework to better understand the factors that improve upward mobility and prioritize areas of focus. Data reports for cities and counties can be created here.

Several indicators in the Upward Mobility Framework may be improved with investments in community-led violence prevention. To measure these indicators and determine if investments in these interventions could help, examine the following:

• Safety from crime: Reported property crimes per 100,000 people and reported violent crimes per 100,000 people. These data are available from the Federal Bureau of Investigations’ Uniform Crime Reporting Program.

• Safety from trauma: Number of deaths due to injury per 100,000 people. These data are available from the National Center for Health Statistics’ Mortality File and the CDC’s WONDER database.

• Just policing: Number of juveniles arrested per 100,000. High rates of juvenile arrests provide a strong indicator of overall system involvement and over-policing. These data are available from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Crime Data Explorer.

• Center lived experience: When staffing a violence prevention initiative, individuals with lived experience similar to those at high risk for violence are often most effective at building long-lasting relationships with potential participants. Beyond serving as credible messengers to participants, these staff members can also help shape program design and outreach strategy.
• Use multiple pathways for engagement: A foundational aspect of violence prevention is identifying those who are at high risk and cultivating relationships with them. To determine who should be considered at a high risk for participating in violence, successful programs develop robust referral systems (such as from community members and criminal justice partners) and through internal predictive data analysis.
• Invest in persistent, long-term relationship-building: Building a relationship with high-risk individuals, especially to the point of securing commitments to workforce development training, often requires a long-term approach of consistent, unwavering engagement. This approach includes the expectation that some initial participants will leave the program and must be re-engaged, that some will participate in violence while enrolled, and that behavioral changes may take several years.
• Deliver and design the program with partners: Evidence-based violence prevention initiatives typically include multiple partners. A community-based partner with deep knowledge of and strong reputation within the neighborhood often leads outreach, while the police department and justice system agencies (such as the Department of Juvenile Services or the Department of Probation and Parole) can provide key data on high-risk areas and safety guidance.
• Set clear safety protocols: Preventing violence often means engaging with individuals or groups at a high risk for participating in violence. To ensure the well-being of program participants, staff members, partners, and community members, develop a clear set of safety protocols and procedures. This can include providing off-site or private work space for participants who have received threats; monitoring interpersonal relationships and de-escalating when necessary; and developing dynamic safety profiles alongside program participants to help measure when risks of participating in violence increase or decrease.