For the past 20 years, Cure Violence Global (CVG) has led an innovative movement grounded in epidemiology and community health to create greater public safety and reduce violence by treating violence as an epidemic. When violence is understood as a contagious disease, it becomes a health issue to be treated, rather than an issue of criminality to be punished. As the paradigm around violence shifts according to CVG’s approach, those most vulnerable to violence can be encouraged to remove themselves from potentially violent situations through community dialogue, mediation, preventative work from CVG workers, and social norm change. Together, these developments greatly reduce the number of conflicts which turn violent and may end with arrest, incarceration, or needless death.
Violence at the community level is a relentless issue that has been shown to not improve with increased, redirected, or reformed law enforcement. CVG’s community-based solution is not only impactful and feasible, but proven and sustainable. With a network of 600-750 trained public health workers and credible messengers (Violence Interrupters and Outreach Workers) in 52 communities across 15 U.S. cities, CVG has achieved a proven 40-70% reduction in violence in some of the country’s most vulnerable and conflict-ridden communities.
CVG’s dedication, work, and founding ideas make real change within issues that seem almost too large to tackle. Cure Violence strives to make a lasting impact on vulnerable communities, especially in the present moment when the country as a whole is recognizing the real need for community-based violence prevention.
In recognition of Cure Violence’s pioneering work in violence reduction, CVG is excited to share that we have been selected as a partner by World Vision International for their proposed “Hope at Home” project, which the MacArthur Foundation has chosen as a finalist in their 100&Change competition. The “Hope at Home” project proposes to mitigate migration from Central America by addressing multiple factors behind the region’s large-scale flight among families and youth, with a goal of creating employment opportunities for 100,000 youth in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, as well as a 50% reduction in violence.
Cure Violence’s knowledge and success in the field of violence reduction and neighborhood rejuvenation led to this decision by World Vision. Many of the methods and practices CVG uses across its sites are necessary and applicable to the goals set forth by this project. As a partner in this proposal, CVG brings decades of experience, expertise, and success in these fields to help strengthen the work the “Hope at Home” project strives to accomplish.
CVG was also a finalist in the 100&Change competition in 2016 with the proposed project of implementing a full public health approach in Chicago, with a goal of reducing killings by over 50%. Since then, CVG has gone on to spread its work throughout the country and across the world.
The new 100&Change Competition winners will be announced in Spring 2021. To learn more about the “Hope at Home” project, click here.