Surveys conducted in five cities as part of the Research and Evaluation Center’s project for the National League of Cities and its Institute for Youth, Education, and Families. Continue reading Surveying the MRCS Communities
New York City’s Department of Youth and Community Development implemented three potentially effective programs to prevent violence, reduce crime, and support resident well-being. Effective evaluations rely on detailed frameworks that guide data collection, data analysis, and the interpretation of results. To design reliable evaluations of complex programs, researchers collaborate with policymakers, agency leaders, program staff, and community residents to create detailed evaluation frameworks, revising them as necessary to account for changes in policy and practice. The evaluation frameworks presented here are draft versions offered as starting points for efforts to employ evidence-based public safety strategies in New York City. Continue reading Designing Safety
My contributions to a discussion at Yale Law School stressed the need to build community violence prevention with credible evidence rather than progressive rhetoric. Continue reading Community Safety as a Public Health Issue: Yale Law School
The crime and justice field recently started to label a wide array of violence prevention strategies as Community Violence Interventions (or CVI). Many of these strategies depend on law enforcement and social services, but the most innovative approaches are community-centered and community-sourced. They are grassroots efforts that rely on the resources of neighborhoods and residents themselves, operating separately from law enforcement and traditional human services. These strategies could be called Community Violence Interventions at the Roots (or CVI-R). Continue reading Community Violence Intervention at the Roots (CVI–R)
New York City’s MAP strategy marshaled the talents and energies of residents to improve public safety and build healthy communities working in collaboration with local government and nonprofit partners. The initiative implemented MAP in more than a dozen public housing developments spread across New York City. John Jay College’s Research and Evaluation Center worked with NORC at the University of Chicago to assess the design and implementation of MAP by observing operations, interviewing local officials and staff, and surveying residents. Continue reading Conceptualization, Implementation, and Management of the New York City Mayor’s Action Plan for Neighborhood Safety
Studies conducted of two CMS sites by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice’s Research and Evaluation Center found that, in addition to a decline in shootings over two years, trust in law enforcement increased, and fewer people turned to violence. “Over time, attitudes did change, especially in the Cure Violence neighborhoods,” said Sheyla Delgado, a researcher at John Jay who has coauthored several CMS studies. Continue reading The Trace — There Are Only Two City-Funded Violence Prevention Sites Tackling Surging Violence in Upper Manhattan
