Client
Community Gun Violence Reduction Project
Focus Area
- Community Safety
Phases
- Discover
- Design
- Implement
- Sustain
Key Products and Services
- Research
- Strategic planning
- Ecosystem mapping
- Project implementation and management
- Technical assistance
- Capacity building
The Challenge
In the early to mid-2010s, Delaware experienced a rise in community gun violence. The state’s homicide rate per capita rose faster than anywhere else in the country. At the time, Delaware did not have a unified, statewide plan to turn the tide.
A CDC report highlighted the need to take action in Wilmington, the state’s largest city, and it sparked action statewide. But the efforts were fragmented. Well-meaning programs operated in silos. Important data wasn’t shared across agencies. And too many young people were falling through the cracks.
Delaware leaders needed more than a plan; they needed an intervention to align stakeholders, invest in evidence-based programs, and rebuild trust in the systems meant to keep communities safe.
Our Approach
Social Contract worked with Delaware’s government, health system, philanthropic community, and violence prevention leaders to design a Collective Impact Initiative. Together, we built the infrastructure, relationships, and strategy needed to reduce violence, while keeping a close eye on sustainability.
Phase 1: Infrastructure & Capacity Building (2018–2020)
Social Contract began by listening and learning. We conducted a local and national landscape analysis and researched best practices to reduce community gun violence. This resulted in a Blueprint to Address Urban Gun Violence in Wilmington. The Blueprint called for:
- Developing a “backbone” entity to coordinate the work and stakeholders;
- Investing in evidence-based and evidence-informed intervention programs;
- Identifying long-term funding sources; and
- Ongoing evaluation of efforts in order to make data-informed decisions.
The Blueprint resulted in three violence intervention programs:
- Group Violence Intervention (2019) – Led by the State of Delaware.
- Hospital-Based Intervention (EVOLV, 2020) – Led by ChristianaCare.
- Community-led street outreach programs (2020) – Led by the Center for Structural Equity with funding from philanthropic organizations.
Phase 2: Collective Impact Activation (2020–2022)
Instead of competing for limited resources, the three programs designed and implemented a statewide violence reduction strategy using a Collective Impact approach. Social Contract facilitated a Community of Practice that enabled the program leaders to build trust, align goals, and develop a Theory of Change. The Theory of Change became a roadmap for what success would look like. The group continues to meet regularly to strengthen coordination and share progress across the ecosystem.
Phase 3: Designing and Sustaining a Backbone Organization for the Future (2023–2024)
To make this work sustainable, Social Contract led the design and launch of a non-profit organization called End Community Violence Now (ECVN), which served as the country’s first community-based Office of Violence Prevention. Now an independent public-private partnership, ECVN was formed with the clear mandate to coordinate and sustain Delaware’s violence reduction ecosystem. Social Contract’s work included:
- Designing operational and governance structures,
- Coordinating stakeholder alignment and launch plan, and
- Developing a statewide violence reduction ecosystem map.
The Impact
Over the course of six years, Delaware’s Collective Impact Initiative has delivered tangible results:
- Supported the expansion of evidence-based violence intervention programs from the City of Wilmington to other jurisdictions.
- Built lasting infrastructure and capacity that is delivering promising early outcomes:
- 30% reduction in shooting incidents in the City of Wilmington between 2021 and 2022.
- 386 individuals have accepted Group Violence Intervention (GVI) services at some point since 2019.
- Gun charges are trending downward among GVI participants.
- Momentum continues, with new partners and funding secured.
- Provided intensive support to Group Violence Intervention (GVI) and the Center for Structural Equity— two of the three new intervention programs—during their early implementation phase.
- Created intentional spaces to coordinate Delaware’s violence reduction ecosystem.
By building a shared strategy and strengthening the systems behind it, Delaware is showing the nation what’s possible when public health, community leadership, and government come together.
Social Contract continues to support GVI by providing project management, facilitation, research, design, and implementation assistance. We’re proud to help our partners create safer, more resilient communities.