Project Longevity outlines housing, jobs and outreach; city violence-prevention office warns of federal funding risk

Project Longevity, a city-serving gang-violence reduction program, described steady outreach, intensive case management, emergency housing assistance and pre-apprenticeship training to the New Haven Board of Alders Public Safety Committee on March 31, 2025, while the Office of Violence Prevention warned that federal funding that supports much of the local violence-prevention ecosystem could be at risk.

Project Longevity's statewide coordinator, Kate (statewide coordinator, Project Longevity), told the committee Project Longevity has worked with the New Haven Police Department since 2012 and now operates with expanded services after the Justice Education Center assumed oversight in 2022. "We want you to live safe and free," Kate said, describing an approach that pairs police intelligence with outreach workers and case managers to identify people at high risk of involvement in gun violence and to offer housing, job training and other supports.

The program relies on several partners, including retired New Haven police officers assigned to outreach roles, Clifford Beers (care coordination and intensive case managers), NewReach (short-term rental assistance and security-deposit support) and contracted outreach providers. Project Longevity staff described paying for security deposits and the first two months' rent and providing up to a year of housing assistance in many cases; they also support drivers-license restoration, CDL training, GED and pre-apprenticeship construction, masonry and trades training.

Kate and Project Longevity staff described a mix of immediate emergency responses and longer-term work: rapid…