Community-Centered Safety
Conditions
Brief summary
This study will describe, estimate, and explore the effectiveness of community-centered safety models (CCSMs)-including co-response, alternative response, and community violence intervention modalities-implemented across U.S. municipalities to prevent community violence among youth and young adults (YYA). Specifically, the investigators will (1) describe CCSM implementation using implementation-science methods, (2) estimate CCSMs' impacts on community-violence outcomes using quasi-experimental methods, and (3) explore operational and contextual factors associated with stronger or weaker effects.
Interventions
None listed
Sponsors
NYU Langone Health
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Study design
Observational model
OTHER
Time perspective
CROSS_SECTIONAL
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
for Jurisdiction/Sites: 1. Intervention modality clarity: A single, identifiable CCSM-Co-Response (CRM), Alternative Response (ARM), or Community Violence Intervention (CVI)-implemented at city/county level. 2. Documented launch date \& scope: Public or official documentation specifying program start date, catchment, operating hours, staffing, eligibility, and core activities. 3. Observation window: ≥24 months pre-implementation and ≥12 months post-implementation of outcome data (monthly preferred; annual acceptable for fatal outcomes). 4. Outcomes coverage: Availability of primary outcomes (fatal and nonfatal violent injury) and at least one secondary justice outcome at the jurisdiction level. 5. Data quality: Stable geographic boundaries, consistent reporting practices, and no catastrophic breaks that preclude credible counterfactual fit. 6. Donor comparability: Jurisdiction characteristics and data cadence compatible with a pooled augmented synthetic control design (i.e., can be matched to a synthetic control and included in permutation tests).
Exclusion criteria
1. Pilot-only or indeterminate programs: Short-lived pilots, ambiguous or multi-modality rollouts where treatment timing or content cannot be reliably defined. 2. Severe data discontinuity: Major boundary changes, reporting suspensions, coding overhauls, or dataset gaps that undermine time-series integrity (e.g., prolonged outages during system migration) and cannot be addressed with standard remedies. 3. Overlapping major interventions: Concurrent, poorly measured citywide initiatives (e.g., sweeping policy bundles) that coincide with the CCSM start and make identification infeasible. 4. Insufficient pre-period: \<24 months pre-implementation data for primary outcomes. 5. Incompatible cadence/aggregation: Outcomes only available at spatial or temporal units that cannot be aligned with other sites or donors.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Homicide Rate | Baseline, Month 36 | Measured as deaths per 100,000 (annual). |
| Firearm Homicide Rate | Baseline, Month 36 | Measured as deaths per 100,000 (annual). |
| Assault-related ED & inpatient encounters (combined) rate | Baseline, Month 36 | Measured as visits/admissions per 10,000 (monthly). |
| Firearm-assault-related ED & inpatient encounters (combined) rate | Baseline, Month 36 | Measured as hospitalizations per 10,000 (monthly). |
| Nonfatal firearm assault rate | Baseline, Month 36 | Measured as hospitalizations per 10,000 (monthly). |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Aggravated assault arrest rate | Baseline, Month 36 | Measured as arrests per 10,000 (monthly). |
| Weapons-related arrest rate | Baseline, Month 36 | Measured as arrests per 10,000 (monthly). |
| Robbery arrest rate | Baseline, Month 36 | Measured as arrests per 10,000 (monthly). |
| Juvenile arrest rate | Baseline, Month 36 | Measured as arrests per 10,000 juveniles (monthly). |
Countries
United States
Contacts
CONTACTBennett Allen, PhD
CONTACTBrittany Griffin
PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORBennett Allen, PhD
NYU Langone Health
Outcome results
None listed