The Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance has awarded $1,988,190 to the Mayor’s Office of Community Safety to develop our first "Community Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative" or "CVIPI".
This program, fully funded for three years, will take a public health, community-focused approach to address the root causes of violence in Nashville's most vulnerable neighborhoods.
The Office of Community Safety will hire and train “Credible Messengers” with lived experiences in overcoming violence. A coalition of neighborhood leaders will guide this effort, so solutions are guided by those Nashvillians who live in the communities affected.
“As we advance our community safety plan, I expressed repeatedly that we hoped to expand upon successful initiatives, including group violence intervention,” Mayor O’Connell said. “This is an important tool and process that has worked well in other cities and is one of our best options to reduce gun violence and violent crime as we wait for the state to take reasonable actions in response to the needs of Covenant School families and all Nashvillians.”
A collaboration between the Mayor’s Office of Community Safety, MNPD’s Office of Alternative Policing, and community organizations like The Village resulted in the awarding of the grant.
Additionally, the program will fund they city's Violence Intervention programs and a Measurement and Evaluation Manager to collect data and assess program effectiveness.
The federal Office of Justice Program’s (@OJPgov) mission is to provide resources, leadership, and solutions to advance community safety, build community trust and strengthen the community’s role as co-producer of safety and justice.