Project Longevity New Haven is part of a Connecticut state initiative supported by the Office of the United States Attorney. Under National Network advising in partnership with Yale University and the University of New Haven, Project Longevity combines community engagement, social services, and focused law enforcement to positively influence group dynamics and reduce violence. Project Longevity conducts call-ins to deliver community and law enforcement antiviolence messages to group members along with an offer of help. The city launched its effort in fall 2012.
City police Lts. John Healy and David Zanelli are trying to open a dialogue with the communities they serve.
Healy and Zanelli are district managers for the Dwight/Chapel and Fair Haven districts, respectively, who engaged with residents in an event this week in an effort to build bridges between two communities often at odds. It was held by Project Longevity New Haven and the Urban League of Southern Connecticut’s New Haven office.
With only a day left in 2017, New Haven is on pace for the lowest number of homicides in decades. The seven homicides this year — down from 13 in 2016 — would mark the fewest in New Haven since 2003, when the city had eight.
Both Campbell and Generoso credited the Police Department’s numerous collaborations with the community, and chiefly programs such as Project Longevity and daily interdepartment intelligence meetings, with helping decrease crime rates. Project Longevity combines local, state and federal resources to reduce crime.
A new report from a gun policy group founded by former Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords highlights Connecticut’s Project Longevity as one of the most effective programs in the nation at combating gun violence.
The state-funded Project Longevity, which has an annual budget of $885,000, was launched in 2012 and operates in New Haven, Hartford and Bridgeport, three cities that account for more than 70 percent of gun homicides in Connecticut. The program targets the small segment of each city’s population that is responsible for the majority of gun crime and seeks to intervene before things turn violent.
Project Longevity organized a discussion panel to educate the public about its work in the city--and state--and start a conversation about how to foster police-community reconciliation in New Haven.
Andrew Papachristos' Policy Lab will be an interdisciplinary social and political science research lab.
Project Longevity and our partners in New Haven are playing a substantial role in crime reduction.
Our partners with Project Longevity have helped reduce violence, leading to "half as many New Haveners" being shot relative to a decade ago.
Project Longevity in New Haven is continuing to contribute to sustained low-levels of violent crime. Daily intelligence meetings, custom notifications, and other innovations are supporting the vital work being done.
"The violent crime rate in Connecticut fell nearly 23% from 2012 to 2015, representing the sharpest decline of any U.S. state, according to the state’s own analysis of federal data."
Project Longevity in New Haven holds intelligence meetings four days per week to inform any action it takes.
