RFP for research to reduce violence – Jul 11 (LOI)

Posted by Arnold Ventures on June 14, 2022

Arnold Ventures issues RFP for research to reduce violence

The core mission of Arnold Ventures is to invest in evidence-based solutions that maximize opportunity and minimize injustice.

To that end, Arnold Ventures has issued an RFP for Reducing Violence Research. The Arnold Ventures (AV) Reducing Violence portfolio aims to reduce community violence, support a safe future for all community members, and minimize the fear of living in communities without effective responses to violence. This portfolio focuses on developing a rigorous evidence-based on violence reduction strategies and programs to support communities, policy makers, and law enforcement agencies in their efforts. Specifically, Arnold Ventures supports research to understand effective strategies better to reduce community violence by focusing on the most high-risk people and places, promoting effective policing, and ensuring that what is learned leads to scalable results. Five overarching goals motivate this work: (1) reduce community violence perpetration and victimization, especially among young Black and Brown males; (2) increase community involvement in reporting and preventing crime; (3) increase police effectiveness in preventing and investigating violent crime; (4) promote justice and fairness for all members of communities impacted by violence; and (5) strengthen decisionmakers’ ability to plan, launch and sustain effective violence reduction strategies.

Arnold Ventures seeks to advance these goals by developing research under three main pillars addressing immediate crises of violence, identifying, and addressing the underlying causes of violence, and promoting effective police investigations to solve violent crime.

Under this RFP, Arnold Ventures will fund research on the following priority interventions: street outreach/violence interruption; hospital-based Violence Intervention Programs (HVIPs); therapeutic support to families (e.g., functional family therapy); youth cognitive behavioral therapy and summer employment; focused deterrence; and improving the physical environment (e.g., greening vacant lots, improving lighting).

AV is primarily interested in rigorous outcome evaluations that focus on the core question of whether the selected intervention works to reduce violence and build community safety and will support experimental and non-experimental approaches that facilitate estimates of causal effects. It is also interested in understanding the mechanisms associated with changes and welcome mixed-method and multilevel data collection strategies. Cost-benefit analyses are also recommended where feasible.

Proposals for impact studies incorporating formative and process evaluations of how violence reduction interventions are developed, resourced, and implemented will receive priority in funding decisions. Though the reduction of violence is a primary outcome of interest for research funded through this RFP, AV underscores that sustaining reductions in violence requires both the absence of violence and the active creation of the conditions that increase individual wellbeing and community safety. Research that addresses the underlying causes of violence—the social and economic inequities that characterize the communities most impacted by violence—is of great interest.

Research teams (universities, researchers, agencies and/or program staff) are strongly encouraged to include members of groups who are disproportionately impacted by the criminal justice system. The voices and expertise of practitioners and researchers of color and those directly impacted by the criminal justice system are fundamental to finding solutions that will be most beneficial for individuals most impacted and should therefore be actively and meaningfully included in all proposed work.

The AV Team will answer questions related to this RFP during an optional informational call on June 16, 2022, at 2:00 p.m. ET. Potential respondents are encouraged to prepare for this conference call by reviewing the full RFP, AV’s Reducing Violence research agenda, and proposal requirements. Please RSVP to the call to receive the dial-in information.

Letters of interest are due July 11, 2022, and selected teams will be invited to submit a full proposal due September 9, 2022.

For complete program guidelines, application instructions, and to RSVP for the conference call, see the Arnold Ventures website.

Deadline: July 11, 2022 (Letters of Interest)