Abstract purpose of the project: jsumc seeks to address the problem of violence in its catchment areas located in monmouth county, new jersey by expanding and enhancing current program offerings of…

This Project Grant award of $1,999,403 from the Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Assistance will support Hackensack University Medical Center's efforts to expand and enhance its hospital-based and community-based violence intervention programs in Monmouth County, New Jersey through September 2025. As part of the Community-Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative, the awardee seeks to address violence in economically distressed communities and qualified opportunity zones by increasing service capacity for its Project HEAL and ELEVATE programs to 500 clients annually. Activities include collaborating with Montclair State University researcher Dr. Sheetal Ranjan to design strategic program enhancements, developing a coordinated community response working group, and conducting targeted community outreach. The goal is to make the programs self-sustaining at the awardee's medical center while reducing violence in the target communities.

Abstract purpose of the project: jsumc seeks to address the problem of violence in its catchment areas located in monmouth county, new jersey by expanding and enhancing current program offerings of a hospital-based violence intervention program (project heal established in 2021) and a community-based violence intervention program (elevate established in 2022) that are currently funded by the new jersey office of the attorney general and serve people from many neighboring economically distressed communities also called qualified opportunity zones (qozs). Primary activities include collaboration with a research partner to design strategic enhancements to its programs; enhancing current partnerships by developing and implementing a coordinated community response (CCR) approach to create a formal working group called cvipi-team; expanding the programs' services through targeted community outreach; and, making the program self-sustainable at jsumc. Expected outcomes: IT is anticipated that the number of clients served by both project heal and elevate will increase to 500 each year, helping to alleviate the problem of violence in the communities IT serves. Service area: monmouth county, new jersey including qozs in asbury park, neptune city, neptune township, and long branch city. Intended beneficiaries for project heal include patients (18+ age) evaluated for a violent injury at jsumc; for elevate, IT is youth (ages 13-20) who have been impacted by community violence or are at-risk to perpetrate violence. Subrecipients: montclair state university's (MSU) professor DR. Sheetal ranjan will implement an action research agenda to assist with the implementation, expansion, and enhancement of jsumc program's processes and services.