About

Community Health and Violence Prevention Services

Community Health and Violence Prevention Services (CHVPS) Division uses public health approaches to prevent violence in Harris County and is comprised of two programs — the Holistic Assistance Response Team (HART) program and the Relentless Interrupters Serving Everyone (RISE) program (absorbing the former Community and Hospital violence prevention programs)

For More Information

Email: [email protected]
Phone: (713) 274-4877

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Frequently Asked Questions

A: In Harris County, the zip codes with the highest rates of gun violence also have the greatest social challenges: generational poverty, insufficient or no health insurance, lack of access to healthy food, underemployment, and economic insecurity. 

As a public health department, Harris County Public Health (HCPH) views violence as a health issue. Violent behavior does not happen in a vacuum, but in environments suffering from systemic and chronic social stressors. The “public health approach” to addressing violence focuses on prevention through addressing the known factors that increase or decrease the likelihood of violence

A. Violent crime is increasing nationally and locally. In August 2021, Harris County Commissioner’s Court approved Harris County Public Health (HCPH) to establish its Community Health and Violence Prevention Services Division to administer programs that use a public health approach to violence prevention. Considering the needs of some of the County’s most violent communities, and researching other successful programs throughout the country, HCPH created the program structure, selected the pilot communities and the prevention strategies to use in each pilot.

A. HCPH will operate the program through its Community Health and Violence Prevention Division.

A: HART now operates in all Harris County Sheriff's Office districts, unincorporated Harris County. RISE now operates in 3 communities in Harris County: Sunnyside, Cypress Station, and Cloverleaf.

The programs were launched in Spring 2022 in two pilot communities, Cypress Station in unincorporated Harris County and Sunnyside, in the City of Houston. We look forward to expanding to reach more of Harris County.

A: Both the Community Violence Interruption Program and HART are currently being used successfully in dozens of U.S. cities, including in Texas. It has reduced the number of calls requiring law enforcement, connected people in distress with needed resources and freed up law enforcement to deal with violence, which is increasing locally and nationally.