Prince George’s County, home to over 800,000 residents, is one of Maryland’s highest crime areas, second only to Baltimore City. In 2022, the county had a homicide rate of 12.68 per 100,000 residents and 281 non-fatal shootings, with violent crime increasing by 2% from 2021. Budget deficits impacting job creation and youth services add to the challenge of reducing crime.
To address this, the Hope in Action (HIA) program, in collaboration with the University of Maryland Capital Region Medical Center Violence Intervention Program (CAP-VIP), seeks to expand and enhance its anti-violence programming. The expanded and enhanced HIA program (E&E HIA) will target high-risk individuals with interventions like violence interruption, conflict mediation, outreach, life coaching, and support services.
HIA already involves various community-based strategies and has identified gaps that the E&E HIA program aims to address. COWOC is currently applying for the Bureau of Justice Community-Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Grant. If received, this grant will enable COWOC to continue its violence intervention and prevention program, empowering violence interrupters to host events, speak in schools, and engage with businesses to improve community safety.