Interrupting Violence in Youth and Young Adults (IVYY) Project
As a hospital-based violence intervention program (HVIP), IVYY serves victims of gun violence, ages 14 to 34, who seek care at Grady.
Mission
Community violence is a public health crisis that demands a public health response. The Interrupting Violence with Youth and Young Adults (IVYY) Project aims to reduce community violence in Atlanta by providing survivors and their families with comprehensive, compassionate support in and beyond the hospital. Through leadership, education, advocacy, and its Circle of Safety initiative, the IVYY Project seeks to help address the root causes and systemic conditions that cause under-resourced communities to be disproportionately impacted by violence.
IVYY By the Numbers
January 2023 Launch Date
Launched in January 2023 at Grady Health System, Atlanta’s only Level 1 Trauma Center, the IVYY Project recognizes the humanity in violence prevention work and the fact that most people affected by violence are also contending with unmet social needs.
3.5% Reinjury Rate
As of March 2024, less than two percent of patients treated in coordination with the IVVY Project have returned with a gunshot wound — a reinjury rate far below the national standard of 30-40 percent.
70 Organizations
The Circle of Safety is a cross-sector convening of more than 70 organizations and individuals working together under the IVYY Project to advance public health and community-based approaches to preventing gun violence.
14 - 34 Patient Age
The IVYY Project provides clinical care and therapeutic support to survivors ages 14 to 34 directly in their moment of need, providing them with bedside and outpatient support, which helps to reduce the likelihood of reinjury and improve their overall sense of safety and wellbeing.
Violence prevention is not hard work, it's heart work
IVVY strives to treat the whole person, not just their wounds — and it’s working.
Nearly one in every four survivors of gun violence are likely to be reinjured – or even killed – by guns in their lifetime without proper follow up care and support. Community violence, including gun violence, is a public health crisis that disproportionately harms under-resourced communities. As a public health crisis, it requires a public health response, starting with the survivors’ healthcare experience. Everyone recovering from violence deserves care, love and attention, but far too often survivors and their families face significant barriers to accessing the compassionate, trauma-informed care that is essential for their recovery. The Interrupting Violence with Youth and Young Adults (IVYY) Project in Atlanta, Georgia, is changing this.
Through a holistic care model imbued with empathy and compassion, IVVY offers comprehensive support in and beyond the hospital to transform trauma and create safer communities.
A collaborative effort, IVVY has a network in and beyond hospital walls, including physicians, violence intervention specialists, community leaders, lawyers, social workers, mental health specialists, and case managers from local organizations. Rooting their work in love, they meet people where they are. In addition, they use a broad approach to address the root causes and conditions of violence.
IVYY In the News
- IVYY program at Grady Hospital reports success one year into effort to tackle gun violence
- Resources to help Atlanta's youth
- Grady's IVYY Program 1st Anniversary
- The IVYY Project at Grady Awarded $100,000 Grant from the Everytown Community Safety Fund to Sustain Critical Gun Violence Prevention Work in Atlanta
- Developing a Power-Building Model for Community Violence Prevention
- Transforming trauma: Lessons learned from year one of the IVYY Project at Grady