Twenty-Nine Organizations to Receive Financial Support to Help Reduce Community Violence

TRENTON — Governor Phil Murphy and Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin today announced that $15 million in grant funding will be distributed to 29 organizations to support New Jersey’s Community-Based Violence Intervention (CBVI) Program and expand it into new communities. The funding was made available through the Fiscal Year 2024 Appropriations Act and includes $5 million from the Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Fund.

Originally funded with $10 million as part of Governor Murphy’s Fiscal Year 2022 budget, the CBVI program has grown to $15 million during the FY2023 and FY2024 budget cycles while continuing to support violence prevention and intervention work. To date, the Murphy Administration has invested $40 million into CBVI programming. Now in its third year of funding, CBVI supports the State’s work in developing a network of violence prevention services, from targeted programs for at-risk youth to street intervention initiatives that are grounded in a public health approach to violence prevention.

CBVI is programmatically overseen by the Division of Violence Intervention and Victim Assistance (VIVA), which was created by Attorney General Platkin through a 2022 directive to support his commitment to elevate and formalize violence prevention and victim services work within the Department of Law and Public Safety. In October 2023, Acting Governor Tahesha Way signed A-4978/S-3086 into law as P.L. 2023, c.167, codifying VIVA within the Department.

“The New Jersey Community-Based Violence Intervention program has proven to be successful in its mission to disrupt the cycles of violence and support vulnerable survivors of this epidemic in communities across our state,” said Governor Phil Murphy. “An additional investment into the program allows us to expand these services to more communities through 29 dedicated organizations seeking to build on innovative and evidence-based approaches to reduce violence. I am grateful to Attorney General Platkin and his team for their continued efforts to address violence in our state and make New Jersey the safest state in the nation to live, work, and raise a family.”

“The $15 million in grant awards we are announcing today deepen our support for community-led solutions to reduce violence as part of our extensive public safety strategy alongside traditional law enforcement services,” said Attorney General Platkin. “Under Governor Murphy’s leadership, the state’s historic investment in innovative violence intervention programming has helped make New Jersey a leader in combating gun violence and empowered communities to reduce violence in places that have experienced far too much of it.”

When the CBVI program was established in 2021, the $10 million allocated to it represented the largest single investment in community-based violence intervention and prevention in the state’s history. Current CBVI funding reflects a key component of the Murphy Administration’s efforts to address the root causes of violent crime and bolster public safety across the state.

The community violence intervention and prevention programs offered by CBVI providers cover a range of services, from street outreach, group and individual counseling and trauma recovery services, mentoring and career development, to cognitive behavioral therapy, case management, afterschool programming, and community referrals. CBVI grantees serve school age children at risk for violence, and older youth from ages 16 to 24 as well as adults who are at high risk for violence or victimization.

“New Jersey’s continued investment in Community Based Violence Intervention Programs reflects an understanding that communities have the skills, expertise, and local leadership to interrupt cycles of violence. Ensuring that they have the resources to do so is a critical part of our commitment to building and expanding upon a multidisciplinary public safety infrastructure,” said Patricia Teffenhart, Executive Director of VIVA. “With these grants, our network of service providers will continue to help create a safer New Jersey.”

The 2024 round of CBVI funding emphasizes and prioritizes certain violence prevention strategies – sometimes called violence intervention or “tertiary” services – that respond to violence by working with individuals who are at a high risk of violence or victimization, typically through street outreach. Violence intervention differs from other prevention strategies like primary and secondary services, which are less focused on those who are highest risk. Through methods like street outreach, violence interventionists and outreach workers respond to situations in real-time, including in hospitals outside schools, in parks, on the streets, and at neighborhood functions.

Individuals performing this work have a strong presence in areas with the highest concentrations of street violence and use their credibility in the community to help de-escalate and mediate conflict. These services are recognized as providing the most immediate benefit in reducing and responding to violence and serve as a complement to traditional public safety strategies such as policing. Tertiary service programs also include “safe passage” initiatives that provide outreach by credible messengers to youth in and around schools that experience high rates of violence in order to intervene in, prevent, mediate, and de-escalate conflict.

This year’s grant program increased the total award ceiling for tertiary service providers to $750,000 – an increase that, among other things, allows them to expand their capacity.  As a result of this increased focus, this CBVI funding cycle awards 10 organizations providing violence intervention services, doubling the number of such programs supported in 2023. As a result, violence intervention services are now funded in seven of the communities in the state most impacted by gun violence. Other programs including prevention services were eligible for up to $500,000 in grant dollars during the 2024 cycle.

Overall, the FY2024 cycle will support 29 CBVI programs in 11 counties, which include services to 14 of the 15 communities that have been most impacted by shooting incidents.

The programs funded through this award are:

*Denotes new CBVI provider in 2024
** Denotes violence intervention/tertiary services program provider

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The Division of Violence Intervention and Victim Assistance (VIVA) serves as Attorney General Platkin’s lead entity for victim assistance and violence intervention and prevention services within the Department of Law and Public Safety. Among its range of responsibilities is creating a statewide infrastructure for victim assistance and violence intervention and prevention services, and supporting the development of new initiatives and strategies in those areas. VIVA provides resources and support to community-based organizations that offer these services and helps develop a statewide strategy for the growth and standardization of programs.

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