CT Violence Intervention Program
Connecticut Violence Intervention Program (CTVIP) is a group of trusted, trained community members that disrupt, prevent, and stop the spread of violence which results in trauma through crisis intervention and proactive relationships with the highest-risk youths and the institutions that impact their lives in the Greater New Haven area.
Stepping into a new year of organizational growth, CTVIP committed a great deal of time and energy to engaging their broader leadership team in advancing the strategic learning of the organization. The appointment of new officers to the Board of Directors, facilitated reflection on Board development needs, and active participation in the organizational rebranding has ignited the Board’s engagement with the goal of taking on new strategic planning activities over the coming year. Leonard Jahad, Executive Director, in collaboration with the Board, also spearheaded an internal campaign to increase the size and length of contracts that fund the organization’s service delivery to their target population.
This year also marked key learning experiences for the CTVIP team. Two learning trips to Roca Inc. sites expanded CTVIP’s understanding of critical programmatic aspects in the areas of safety and security, crisis response, and staff development. Jahad and Alivia Langley, Program Manager, have since rolled out a comprehensive risk assessment framework that they not only use internally but also have incorporated into their referral system so that their community partners can use it for assessing the level of risk a young person is exposed to as they navigate barriers. Both Jahad and Langley have a vision for ongoing refinements to the program model, service delivery, and organizational design that they will collaborate with CTOP to implement in the year ahead, driving improvements across the people, processes, and tools used to serve the young people of New Haven.
CTOP has equipped our agency with internal support that has resulted in an improvement in service quality and performance management. CTVIP is growing rapidly but intentionally, from a singular program to a fully functioning organization, in fewer than four years of operations.