Nebraska Collaborative for Violence Intervention and Prevention
Over the past decade, numerous dedicated individuals have worked tirelessly to promote safety and prevent violence in Omaha through community and academic programs, policies, and initiatives. These efforts have resulted in a decrease in homicides rates in Omaha, however, have not eliminated the devastation caused by all types of violence in Nebraska.
Recognizing the need for a cohesive approach, city and state leaders are advocating for a public health approach to reducing violence in Nebraska. The Nebraska Collaborative for Violence Intervention and Prevention is collaboration between the UNMC Department of Surgery and the UNO School of Criminology and Criminal Justice that combines a criminological and medical perspective to reduce gun violence and support victims of violent injury. The collaboration uses a public health approach to address the underlying factors that contribute to violence, built on community assets and culture, and systematically apply data and science to ensure effective outcomes.
The collaboration augments the criminal justice system’s efforts to reduce violence through enforcement, while building and evaluating additional solutions of prevention, intervention, and enforcement and reentry strategies for juvenile and adult justice. Any one of these without the others is insufficient in providing safety and justice for youth, families, and communities most vulnerable to violence.
The NeCVIP Team
Professor, UNMC Department of Surgery, Division of Acute Care Surgery
Chief, Division of Acute Care Surgery
Medical Director, Dawn to Dusk and Encompass Omaha
Director and Professor, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Nebraska at Omaha
Co-Director, Nebraska Collaboration on Violence Intervention and Prevention
Community Service Associate, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Nebraska at Omaha
Psychologist and Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology at the Munroe-Meyer Institute for Genetics and Rehabilitation
Assistant Professor, UNMC Department of Pediatrics
Violence Supervisor, Nebraska Medicine
Coordinator, Dawn to Dusk
Statistician, UNMC Department of Surgery
Working together
The Nebraska Collaborative for Violence Intervention and Prevention is dedicated to the development, implementation and evaluation of cross-disciplinary, solution-focused programming to reduce violence and strengthen the health and safety of all Nebraskans.
Community engagement is a crucial part of the collaboration's activities. It actively searches for ways to cultivate community partnered programming and research to address violence. Together with our community, the collaboration aims to address the underlying social and economic inequalities that drive interpersonal violence.
The collaboration aims to translate research to develop and coordinate a multi-level systems-based intervention for violence prevention and intervention in the state of Nebraska. Current programming includes:
- Dusk to Dawn
This youth violence prevention program begins in the trauma bay at Nebraska Medicine, where participants relive the life of Roberto Gonzalez from birth through the events that claimed his life at age 20. Participants will see firsthand the devastation caused by a single gunshot wound and they will reflect on their own lives, values and dreams, and how violence steals from life. - Encompass Omaha
This hospital-based violence intervention program helps victims of violence heal from their physical and emotional trauma by empowering them with skills, services and opportunities for recovery. The goal is to ensure victims of violence who are hospitalized return to their communities, make positive changes in their lives and strengthen others affected by violence.
The Nebraska Collaborative for Violence Intervention and Prevention conducts community driven and systems-based research on the causes, consequences and solutions to interpersonal violence. Researchers also evaluate existing community interventions. The collaboration's research projects fall within the following domains:
- Community driven research on the causes and consequences of interpersonal violence.
- Assessment of approaches to firearm violence prevention and intervention.
- Evaluation of existing programming in violence prevention and intervention.
The collaboration's faculty play important roles in educating UNMC and UNO students, and members of the community of Omaha, in violence prevention and intervention, issues of violent injury, and research and evaluation methods of violence.
Courses offered at UNMC include trauma informed care in health care, internship in violence intervention, impact of violence on the community of Omaha, Stop the Bleed and gun safety.