Although baltimores population has declined over the past few years, violent crime continues to rise

The Center For Hope Inc., a non-profit organization in Baltimore, MD, received a $2,000,000 Project Grant award from the Bureau of Justice Assistance's Community-Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative (CFDA 16.045) to enhance the Community Violence Intervention and Prevention (CVIP) Ecosystem in Baltimore. The CVIP Ecosystem project aims to engage high-risk youth aged 17-24 in Baltimore's most violent neighborhoods, utilizing the Cure Violence model and principles of positive youth development. Key deliverables include a gap analysis, a CVIP working group, a comprehensive strategic plan, and an expanded program team to measure the effectiveness of the CVIP Ecosystem in changing community norms around violence. This grant award builds on Center For Hope's existing violence prevention and intervention work, including its Kuji Program for middle and high school youth, which has also received federal sub-awards to expand trauma-informed services.

Baltimore was recently named the fourth most dangerous city in the country, with the direct economic cost of crime, including victim medical needs, calculated at $7,230 per capita. In 2022, the city reported 333 homicides and 688 nonfatal shootings. This was the seventh consecutive year the city has seen more than 300 homicides. Enhancing the community violence intervention and prevention ecosystem in baltimore (cvip ecosystem) engages young people, primarily between the ages of 1724, at the highest risk for retaliatory or escalating violence, including individuals recently released from prison, those known to carry weapons, individuals who have recently survived a gunshot wound, individuals with gang affiliation, and those with histories of violent behaviors. The cvip ecosystem focuses services on the six CFH safe streets sites catchment areas, four on the east side of baltimore and two on the west side. Recent safe streets site expansion has created a unique opportunity to enhance and deepen the impact of the safe streets program, which is proven to reduce gun violence. The cvip ecosystem will enhance the impact of safe streets from the ground up, expanding frontline services, improving coordination and strategic planning from the top down, utilizing the cure violence model, and integrating principles of positive youth development to engage high-risk youth. Funding for the cvip ecosystem will create deliverables including a GAP analysis, acvip working group of invested community stakeholders, a comprehensive strategic plan, and an expanded and enhanced program team at CFH. The implementation of this strategic, data-driven project will allow CFH to measure the effectiveness of the cvip ecosystems ability to effectively change community norms around violence.