American cities are witnessing historic declines in gun violence. In recent years, cities like Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Chicago have all seen precipitous drops in homicides, with some reaching multi-decade record lows (Washington Post 2025). While there are many causes of this decline, experts in the field point to community violence intervention as driving the trend.

Community violence intervention (CVI) is a public health approach to prevent and intervene in gun violence.  This strategy can be delivered in a variety of settings and includes program models such as hospital-based violence intervention programs (HVIPs), street outreach, transformational mentorship programs, and cognitive behavioral interventions. Oftentimes, cities will deploy multiple simultaneous models to create a CVI ecosystem, a comprehensive network of programs, people, and strategies working together to reduce violence in communities.

Although there are multiple distinct program models, all CVI strategies maintain a set of core components (US Department of Justice 2024). Programs work with individuals at the highest risk of either becoming a victim or perpetrator of gun violence. These interventions are delivered by trusted, credible messengers, referred to as violence prevention professionals. They deliver trauma-informed care interventions, while programs address the upstream social drivers of health.

Existing research demonstrates that CVI strategies are effective across multiple outcomes. One randomized control trial of an HVIP in Baltimore demonstrated a reduction in repeat hospitalizations for violent injuries from 36 percent to 5 percent (Cooper, Eslinger, & Stolley 2006). A study of street outreach programs reported a 32 percent reduction in homicides as well as a 23 percent reduction in nonfatal shootings (Webster, Tilchin, & Doucette 2023). Beyond repeat injuries, these approaches improve health outcomes across a variety of patient-centered outcomes, including increasing access to mental health care services (particularly for post-traumatic stress), and increased connections to critical social needs such as jobs, education, and housing (Juillard et al. 2016). Due to this success, CVI strategies were recommended as an evidence-informed approach for communities to address firearm violence in the 2024 Surgeon General’s Advisory, Firearm Violence: A Public Health Crisis in America (Office of the Surgeon General 2024).

Read the full article about community violence intervention by Kyle Fischer and Princess Fortin at Grantmakers In Health.