The services use a public health approach to disrupt violence and respond to those in crises
Harris County Public Health (HCPH) is launching two new pilot programs that employ public health approaches that address the root causes of community violence and respond to individuals experiencing non-violent, social welfare crises that would benefit from community resources and supports rather than a law enforcement response.
Both programs will be led out of the Department’s Community Health and Violence Prevention Services Division (CHVPS) that will put additional social, medical, and behavioral health resources in the community.
This week the Holistic Assistance Response Team (HART), an alternate responder team began its pilot in Cypress Station. The HART is made up of trained social service, mental health, and medical service professionals to assist those in immediate, non-violent crises that do not require emergency medical personnel or law enforcement response. The HART will respond to calls deemed appropriate by the Harris County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) dispatch center and will work in close coordination with HCSO.
Cypress Station is among the leaders in Harris County for emergency calls that involve non-violent offenses. When our partners with HCSO identify instances that do not include violent crimes, our trained specialists will be sent out to remedy the situation.
“The Holistic Assistance Response Teams are common-sense solutions to making our neighborhoods safe: they allow peace officers to focus on solving serious crimes and use trained health professionals to respond to 911 calls related to mental health, homelessness, or lack of resources,” said Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis. “To make our community safe and reduce unjust racial disparities, we must stop criminalizing problems rooted in health and poverty, connect people to the resources they need, and free up law enforcement officer time to focus on the most serious cases. I am thrilled to see these programs launch and look forward to expanding services across the County.”
The Community Violence Interruption Program (CVIP) will be piloted in the Sunnyside area of Houston and the Cypress Station area of northwest unincorporated Harris County. The CVIP will use outreach workers to engage those most at risk of being involved in gun violence. These communities have high rates of violence and other risk factors such as high unemployment, poverty, low educational attainment, a lack of access to health care, safe housing and healthy food (food desert). These factors contribute to social vulnerability in communities. The CVIP will launch next week in Sunnyside.
Violent offenses in Harris County are most common in areas where residents are under or unemployed, have lower incomes, and have less access to medical and mental health care. Other patterns of violence often involve residents who face housing issues, food challenges, and other disadvantages compared to other community members.
“It is not enough to just provide immediate assistance responding to potential violence but address the root causes. Getting individuals in these programs connected to health, mental health, food assistance, economic and employment assistance is vital in helping prevent future violence and achieve better outcomes that strengthen our communities,” said HCPH Executive Director Barbie Robinson.
The CVIP program will also deploy teams of trained outreach specialists at Ben Taub hospital to help break the cycles of violence. The specialists working in the community will have similar backgrounds to the young people they are mentoring and connect them and their families to resources to help them heal and change their lives. Their primary focus will be on youth and young adults.
Services will include education, employment assistance, substance abuse resources, and assistance accessing social services they and their families are eligible for. The CVIP will provide victims of violence with intensive support and resources to help prevent retaliation, future violence, and additional injuries.
“Similar programs have been proven successful in other parts of the country and helped reduce hospitalizations for violent injuries and law enforcement’s role in behavioral and social service response calls,” said Lupe Washington, the Division Director for Community Health and Violence Prevention.
Please visit the Community Health and Violence Prevention Services website for additional information.