Knowledge library
The terms, evidence, and ideas behind the work.
Use the library when you need to make sense of a term, organization, model, or episode. Follow the sources behind the definitions and explore how guests put these ideas into practice.
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Explore by roleFind local numbers or check what a study says about a program. Start with your question; the research guide will show what fits and what is missing.
Open Research & Evidence Estimate firearm violence costsTerms and sources
Definitions, organizations, policies, and models with links to their sources.
Lessons from episodes
Ideas from a conversation, tied back to the episode and the moment where they came up.
Tools to use
Guides, maps, and tools that help you move from understanding the issue to making a better decision.
12 resource results
Episode insights
A Safety Council Needs Real Authority
Community participation changes decisions only when residents and practitioners have defined authority, information, and a route to act.
Open resourceEpisode insights
Blocked Goals Can Become Anger, Despair, and Apathy
Repeatedly blocked pathways can change how people respond—from fighting harder, to losing confidence, to no longer believing action matters.
Open resourceEpisode insights
Create Future Memories of Success
Help someone picture a specific future, connect it to steps they can complete, and see evidence of progress.
Open resourceEpisode insights
CVI Capacity Has Three Parts
Partnerships, program design, and workforce investment must be built together; strength in one cannot compensate for neglect of the others.
Open resourceEpisode insights
Diagnose the Violence Before Choosing a Model
A program tested elsewhere still needs to fit the violence happening here, the people affected, and what local partners can deliver.
Open resourceEpisode insights
High Hope Can Serve a Harmful Goal
Determination and strategic thinking do not guarantee a safe destination; practitioners must examine the goal as well as the motivation behind it.
Open resourceEpisode insights
Hope Is a Way of Thinking
Hope becomes practical when a person has a goal that matters, a route they can actually use, and the motivation to keep moving. Hope theory calls these goals, pathways, and agency.
Open resourceEpisode insights
Judge Policy by What It Produces
A policy's stated purpose is not evidence that it worked; leaders need a process for reviewing results and correcting harm.
Open resourceEpisode insights
Reflective Supervision Is Program Quality
Frontline workers need structured space to examine difficult encounters, emotional exposure, judgment, boundaries, and their own relationship with violence.
Open resourceEpisode insights
Shift From a Deficit Lens to an Asset-Based Lens
Start by identifying strengths, relationships, and existing capacity, then use those assets to build movement toward a safer future.
Open resourceEpisode insights
Sometimes the Program Has to Be the First Pathway
When systems and relationships have repeatedly failed someone, a CVI program may need to become the first reliable route toward a different future.
Open resourceEpisode insights
Trauma-Informed Is Not the Same as Trauma Recovery
Understanding how trauma shapes behavior is necessary, but recovery requires sustained conditions, relationships, and support that help people heal.
Open resource