Specifications include, but are not limited to: The Community Violence Interruption Program (CVIP) is a neighborhood-based solution to reduce gun violence utilizing public health techniques that operate outside and complementary to law enforcement. The program works on an individual and population level to prevent gun violence before it occurs and prevents the further spread of violence by interrupting and/or mediating ongoing conflicts. The program incorporates the most effective strategies from community-based and hospital-based violence prevention programs while providing neighborhood outreach using credible messengers (Outreach Specialists) who share similar lived experiences to individuals at the highest risk of being the perpetrators or victims of crime. The pilot program targets these specific zip codes/neighborhoods: • 77090 Cypress Station • 77051 Sunnyside • 77021 Old Spanish Trail (OST) • 77033 South Park The Community Violence Interruption Program model has been proven effective and critical in using credible messengers (outreach specialists) to detect and attempt to prevent violent conflicts; connect individuals exposed to serious violence risk factors, to social services; and change broader social norms around violence. In Harris County, the zip codes with the highest rates of gun violence also associate with the disadvantages of community health such as generational poverty, insufficient or no health insurance, lacking access to healthy foods, pervasive underemployment, and economic insecurity. HCPH understands the importance of recognizing violence as a public health issue and that violent behavior arises from contextual, environmental, systemic, and social stressors. The “public health approach” to addressing violence focuses on prevention through addressing the known factors that increase or decrease the likelihood of violence. These approaches will complement existing strategies, including the efforts of our law enforcement partners, to improve the health and safety of all communities in Harris County.
