Executive Summary

Amongst the socioeconomically challenged communities in Vallejo, California, there exists this  constant conflict of ideals and what is reality between the Vallejo Police Department (VPD), the city, and its residents. The exchange of these ideals vary on perceptions of violence in the community, existing community support, and relational law enforcement efforts to name a couple.  When it comes to the profound levels of gang violence, gun violence, and violent crimes that are present, one must ask how both the city and the state of police allowed for such violence to propagate to these levels and what is being done to resolve this issue currently? As it stood before the implementation of Project HOPE, the city of Vallejo had concerningly high rates of violence and crime. Between 2017 and 2021, the % of aggravated assaults alone has increased by almost 15% according to the VPD's databases. Vallejo Police Department’s Project HOPE  (Harm-focused Outreach Prevention and Engagement) is a project funded through the U.S. Department of Justice Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation (BCJI) grant and the California Board of State and Community Corrections CalVIP grant. These grants support their recipient organizations with a financial stipend so that they may improve their respective organizations and increase positive community outcomes by their own discretion. The 4 main goals they strive to achieve with this are to:

1) Reduce youth (aged 14-24) justice involvement by 10%

2) Reduce Part I and Part II offenses by 10%  and 15% in "hotspot" areas

3) Reduce gun violence by 10%

4) Increase non-enforcement police activities by 20% and decrease complaints by 5%

Ward & Ashley (2012) speaks specifically of the youth in communities as being more sensitive to environmental experiences and traumas, which can justify young people's lived experiences and exposures as contributors to predispose them to violence. Vallejo Police Department’s program relies on the use of community violence intervention (CVI) strategies which not only includes youth and family community violence interventions, but hospital-based violence intervention, and street outreach violence intervention and interruption to counter the current state  of crime and the culture that offers limited alternatives to violence in the community. 

Touro University’s Health Equity and Criminal Justice (HECJ) Lab in Vallejo, CA is currently managing Project HOPE (Harm-focused Outreach, Prevention, and Education). At this second year and penultimate phase of Project HOPE, the  HECJ Lab is assigned as one of two research partners. The HECJ Lab is responsible for the evaluation of Project HOPE that includes the effectiveness and impact of the grant implementation with Byrne and CalVIP partners. The evaluation is formative, which measures the utilization of project HOPE strategies amongst the community partners and contracted affiliates to reduce crime and promote prevention through youth focused services. Touro's specific focus within the project is on evaluating implementation outcomes and process measures. My work consists of holding key-informant interviews with some of the CalVIP and Byrne grant recipient organizations and extrapolating key information regarding their use of the grant and relationship with the grant writers, Vallejo Police Department, and the community itself. The supervising preceptors during my project are Gayle Cummings, PsyD, MPH, Director, and Anika Lee, MPH, Program Manager. 

The purpose of this evaluation is to ensure the grant is being used effectively and fairly throughout the community to properly ensure measures are being taken to reduce violence based on the community violence intervention (CVI) strategies. Additionally, supplemental information regarding the implementation of this grant into each organizations’ mission goals and their perspective will be taken into account to ensure equity and fairness.