Speaking with One Voice Against Gun Violence

Learn more about our efforts to address the gun violence public health crisis

At NYC Health + Hospitals, we recognize that violence should be treated like any other communicable disease, and have developed HVIP programming in order to diagnose and treat it.

Every year our five hospitals with HVIP programs treat over 3,500 patients for violent trauma, about two thirds of whom receive violence interruption, prevention, and community services. Recently, NYC Health + Hospitals would be collaborating to share best practices to deliver violence intervention services to all sites across the health system.

In the coming year, NYC Health + Hospitals will lay the ground work to establish HVIP programming at Bellevue and Elmhurst Hospitals.

Here’s a Closer Look at Our HVIP Programs:

• NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem, Harlem Crossroads continues its mission of healing with deep community ties and local partnerships. Director James Powell emphasized, “We honor lives lost to gun violence and remain committed to building a safer, more just future through unity.”
• NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi, Stand Up to Violence (SUV) has seen a 54% decline in gunshot wounds in its Bronx community over the last nine years. A 2023 study found SUV patients were significantly more likely to attend follow-up appointments and less likely to return with reinjury. The SUV team is committed to, “changing the narrative of community violence,” and providing “help to those in front of and behind the gun.”
• NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County, Kings Against Violence Initiative (KAVI) is committed to transforming trauma into opportunities for healing. “Each person that enters our doors carries immeasurable worth, every story deserves to be heard, and every moment of intervention plants seeds of transformation,” said Program Manager Yahsef Johnson.
• NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln, Guns Down Life Up (GDLU) provides job training, education, and mentoring to over 1,000 youth annually — with zero criminal justice involvement reported among its Health Ambassadors. Executive Director James Dobbins called the program “a path away from pain and toward possibility.”
• NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull, WICK Against Violence Program (WICK) focuses on healing the Brooklyn community through community-led care. “Our doctors stand shoulder to shoulder with community partners not just to treat wounds, but to prevent them,” said Jessica Arocho, Director of Community Affairs. “Together, we a­­re building a future where safety is not a privilege, but a promise for all.”

Our health system’s HVIP staff, many of whom have lived experience with gun violence, are more than just interventionists — they are youth mentors, holistic healers, and agents of community change. From organizing youth education, job training programs, and school partnerships to hosting vigils and mediating conflicts, HVIP staff are reaching young people in their greatest time of need and promoting positive, peaceful social norms. 

“Our work begins at the hospital bedside, but it extends deep into communities, where our heroic violence interruption and prevention teams walk hand-in-hand with survivors, families, and youth to break the cycle of violence and build lasting peace,” said Marlee Ickowicz, AVP of Quality and Safety and Director of NYC Health + Hospitals Hospital-Based Violence Interruption Programs (HVIP). “Our goal is no matter which of our trauma centers treat you, you’ll find the same standard of care grounded in empathy, accountability, and community.”

Working together to share best practices, research, data, and education, our HVIP programs are advancing a treatment to address wounds that won’t heal with bandages or surgery alone. Our work will not stop until New Yorkers and young people are safe no matter where they live, and we cure violence in our communities once and for all.