Environmental Interventions to Preventing Community Violence

  • By: Cole CS
  • Published: 10/13/2009

Environmental interventions aim to reduce the level of violence by focusing on a community holistically. Projects aim to alter the environment that allows violence to occur, often by bringing together individuals and coalitions of organizations to come up with local solutions.

Highlights
Blueprints for Violence Prevention. As part of RWJF's strategy to identify and disseminate effective community violence-prevention interventions, the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence has identified 11 model programs deemed "Blueprints." The center continues to evaluate existing programs and provides technical assistance to communities trying to implement one of the models. (See the Blueprints Web site.)

CeaseFire Chicago. Modeled on the Boston Strategy (described below), CeaseFire combines a public education campaign to change social norms about gun violence with outreach workers providing on-the-spot alternatives to shooting. A community-based coalition focuses on a single goal: to reduce violence in all forms in targeted CeaseFire Zones within Chicago. Twelve high-risk communities in Chicago have shown between 45 percent and 92 percent reductions in shootings using this approach. The project was funded under the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Local Funding Partnerships program. (See Program Results on the program.) RWJF has continued to fund its replication in other cities through grants to the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health. (See the CeaseFire Web site.)

Urban Health Initiative (UHI). The goal of UHI was to improve the health and safety of children. UHI was a collection of campaigns in five large metropolitan areas: Baltimore, Detroit, Oakland, Philadelphia and Richmond. Each campaign was unique, based on local challenges and opportunities. Campaigns included after-school programs, case management, government accountability and data collection. (See the UHI Web site.)

Safer Newark Initiative. With support from RWJF, a coalition of local organizations, local police, government agencies and social service agencies came together to take a community-wide approach to the problem of violence in Newark, N.J. After researching the local crime and violence problem, the initiative focused on treating adult probationers and parolees who, because of their criminal history, faced a high risk of becoming victims or perpetrators of violent behavior in the near future. (See Program Results on ID# 037643.)

The Boston Strategy. RWJF supported the production of a video documenting the Boston Strategy for violence prevention. The Boston Strategy approaches violent juvenile crime through the building of coalitions and partnerships among local police, criminal justice officials, social service personnel, health professionals, parents and young people. Collectively, these groups employ three tactics (intervention, enforcement and prevention) to protect both potential juvenile victims and perpetrators from the effects of violent crime. (See Program Results on ID# 034184.)

Other Community Violence-prevention Projects That Used an Environmental Approach

Lessons Learned

  • Community policing—cooperative efforts between neighborhood residents and police—is a successful way to reduce youth violence. Successful efforts include problem solving, taking priorities from neighborhoods and pushing police responsibility down to a very low level (ideally, to the officer on the beat). (See Program Results on ID# 028959.)
  • To most effectively combat youth violence, police departments must combine aggressive policing with deference to communities. Boston, which used this strategy, had the best record of reducing crime and complaints of four major cities, according to one research study. (See Program Results on ID# 028959.)
  • Think local. National technical assistance providers can be helpful, but each community must develop its own approach. (See Program Results on ID# 043858.)
  • Get national attention. Ensure national support and advocacy for solutions to violence through research, public policy, legislation and funding. For example, establish a national task force of organizations representing professionals in health care, education, juvenile justice, law enforcement, youth and family services, and other advocates to mobilize societal action to prevent violence. (See Program Results on ID# 037225.)
  • Identify at-risk children and families early. For example, expand screening and increase support services within health care facilities, schools, child protection agencies and the juvenile court system to identify children and youth who are at risk of psychiatric illness, abuse, alcohol abuse, drug abuse and other potentially dangerous behaviors. Be sure they have access to appropriate monitoring and treatment services. (See Program Results on ID# 037225.)
  • Reduce access to firearms for children and youth. For example, increase legal, regulatory and enforcement efforts to reduce widespread, easy and unsupervised firearm access by children and youth. (See Program Results on ID# 037225.)
  • There is a link between crime and the availability of alcohol. Researchers at Louisiana State University found that in New Orleans the density of alcohol outlets in a neighborhood — rather than the proximity of individuals to an outlet — is strongly associated with the level of drinking and violence. This finding has implications for prevention policies. (See Program Results on ID# 028808.)

Program Results Topic Summary: Preventing Community Violence

  1. 1 Environmental Interventions to Preventing Community Violence
  2. 2 Behavioral Interventions to Prevent Community Violence

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