The grant will build upon the City of Davenport's Group Violence Intervention (GVI), a program established in 2022 that brings together law enforcement, social services, and community volunteers to reach people at the highest risk of violent offending or victimization.
In partnership with St. Ambrose University, Family Resources received a $300,000 grant from the Quad Cities Community Foundation to build upon the GVI program's foundation and continue essential community outreach and education.
At St. Ambrose, a portion of the grant will fund critical gun violence research conducted by a group of interdisciplinary faculty and students from public health and criminal justice programs. Additionally, researchers will evaluate GVI's effectiveness and long-term impact.
"We will be conducting exploratory research - listening to the experiences of those who have been involved in gun violence to better understand and identify the underlying pathways and socio-demographic behaviors that lead to individuals choosing to use guns when committing crimes," Melissa Sharer, PhD, MPH, MSW, director of the Master of Public Health program and Institute for Person-Centered Care (IPCC) research director said.
Sharer reiterates that the individual will be at the center of the research, a philosophy that guides the IPCC through all its research and work in the community.
"We want to identify areas and events to focus on to prevent gun violence from happening in the first place and how to prevent recidivism."
Associate professor and assistant director of the Master of Science in Criminal Justice program Grant Tietjen, PhD is optimistic about the program's benefit to both the local community and SAU students.
"In addition to working with our community to find solutions to social problems, this project has the potential to offer more opportunities for students to engage with actual research that can implement transformative justice measures, rehabilitation, and alternatives to incarceration. This supports the university's mission of empowering our students to develop socially, ethically, and intellectually."
