The Birmingham City Council on Tuesday voted to provide $1.15 million to continue a popular violence-intervention program. The agreement will allow the Offender Alumni Association to continue its work with the Jefferson County Board of Health for the Hospital-Linked Violence Intervention Program, in which patients who have survived gunshot injuries engage with violence intervention specialists while still in the hospital.

Program Success

Council President Pro Tem LaTonya Tate said the program has played a pivotal role in reducing violent crime and preventing cycles of violence. “This partnership has shown us what’s possible when we work in collaboration. There has been essentially zero recidivism with individuals who have completed this program,” Tate said. “We’ve reframed gun violence as a public health crisis. We’re down 73% in homicides from this time last year, and I think connecting community-based organizations to resources is a big reason for that.”

The program targets residents aged 19 to 39 who are recovering from non-self-inflicted gunshot wounds. The intervention begins at the patient’s bedside, where staff from the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery identify willing patients and refer them directly to the HVIP.

Program Details

Once a patient is connected to the program, OAA outreach workers and “violence interrupters” step in to work with victims and their families, focusing on defusing immediate tensions and preventing retaliatory violence. To help permanently break the cycle of violence, the initiative also provides long-term support by linking survivors to resources such as mental health care, housing assistance, and job training.

Since it began, the program has assisted more than 250 individuals, achieving success rates in preventing retaliation and reinjury that surpass national standards for similar hospital-based initiatives, according to the city’s statement.

Councilor Carol Smitherman also spoke highly of the program and said she’d like the city to consider expanding it in the future, including to serve more hospitals.

According to the agreement approved Tuesday, the $1.15 million will go toward case management, education, employment support, housing, food, utility payments, and transportation services to program participants.

Original reporting: BirminghamWatch — read the source article.