PHILADELPHIA — A city-run initiative that aims to provide services to those at risk of shooting someone or being shot has shown encouraging results in its attempts to help address the city’s gun violence, Philadelphia officials said Tuesday.
An evaluation conducted by a University of Pennsylvania researcher said the approach, known as Group Violence Intervention, or GVI, helped reduce gun violence among targeted groups of young people by as much as 50% during a nearly 30-month period ending last spring.
Similarly promising reductions could be seen in neighborhoods where the initiative took place, the evaluation said. And although gun violence has remained at troubling levels citywide — with shootings still occurring at nearly their highest level in decades — city officials nonetheless said they were pleased by what they viewed as positive results from a promising approach they intend to expand.
