Help Us reduce gun violence through violence interruption
Hotline Calls Since Inception: 4,648
|
Call Investigations Since Inception: 646
|
Interruptions of Potential Gun Violence Since Inception: 258
Hotline Calls Since Inception: 4,648 | Call Investigations Since Inception: 646 | Interruptions of Potential Gun Violence Since Inception: 258
CENTRAL VIRGINIA VIOLENCE INTERRUPTERS (CVVI)
are a Violence Interruption Group operating in Charlottesville, VA.
Our mission is to reduce the cycle of gun related crime and homicides through education and economic empowerment by restoring a sense of commitment, community and personal development. We use mediation, mobilization and motivation.
You can still call us The B.U.C.K Squad
What is Violence Interruption?
Violence Interruption is an evidence-based, public health approach to gun violence by attempting to detect and interrupt conflicts before they escalate, identify and treat high risk individuals (those most likely to commit and/or be victimized by gun violence), and change social norms.
All members of CVVI have been trained in The Cure Violence Approach:
Detect and interrupt (i.e., prevent) potentially violent situations,
Identify and change the thinking and behavior of the highest risk transmitters (i.e., those most likely to engage in violence), and
Change group norms that support and perpetuate the use of violence.
CVG’s method entails analyzing violence clusters and transmission dynamics and uses paraprofessional health workers who are culturally sensitive credible messengers to interrupt transmission and change community norms around the use of violence. This is accomplished by hiring members of the community who have had similar life experiences to those at highest risk of committing acts of violence Staff are trained as community health workers and receive extensive education and coaching in evidence-based methods of mediation, persuasion, behavior change, and norm change — all of which are essential for limiting the spread of outbreaks of violence.
To Learn More about Cure Violence Global and Our Training: https://cvg.org/training/
“How Can We Better Support Your Mission and Your Work?”
The best answer is DONATE and SPREAD THE WORD.
Donations are used to pay our staff, grow the squad, and support our outreach programs. We organize and engage to build a better community through job placement, tutoring programs, drug rehabilitation, re-entry programs, trauma counseling, and more.
For conflict de-escalation or violence interruption tap button or call us anytime, 24 hours a day.
(434) 365-4187
The B.U.C.K. Squad
After experiencing the loss of a close friend at the hands of gun violence, members of the B.U.C.K. Squad and other community members decided that enough was enough. The B.U.C.K. Squad was formed to take accountability in their own community to stop the violence. The collective group decided to take personal action to address conflicts before they escalated to gun violence in Charlottesville, and the community responded positively to their approach.
The B.U.C.K. Squad then appealed to community members and city officials to invest in professional training and development for the group to become certified “Violence Interrupters” and outreach workers. The need for such a training was highlighted recently when one B.U.C.K. Squad member had a gun pulled on him during a conflict resolution.
In early February 2021, Charlottesville City Council unanimously voted to donate $20,480 to [the team] for a four-day training for B.U.C.K. Squad members. Mayor Nikuyah Walker recognized that the organization had also raised $16,000 for the training from other sources.
The group organizes weekly patrols as they canvass high-risk neighborhoods to assist in de-escalating any potentially violent situations, with only street-knowledge and the city-sponsored training to provide tools to effectively commit to this work.
Executive Director, Herb Dickerson
We have amazing community partners to help provide resources in the community to support, engage, and Build.
TESTIMONIALS
“I just wanted to thank you for having invited the B.U.C.K Squad to speak with us today. Our lesson was by far the best class I have had as a UVA Law student. I am grateful to B.U.C.K for having taken the time to share their important work with us, and I hope future UVA Law students will have the pleasure of hearing from them, too. Thank you, again, for having arranged the presentation.”
“I was really impressed with how engaged all of the members of the Buck Squad were in the training. I didn’t know a lot about the Buck Squad going into this, and I left feeling that the Buck Squad is doing really important work. Another thing that stood out is that it seems like the Buck Squad is feeling a lack of support from the community. ”
FOLLOW ALONG
