CASE STUDY
Collaborative for Hate-Crime Incident Research, Response & Prevention (CHIRRP)
LOCATION
New York, NY
ACTIVE
2024 - Present
This community-led research project connects the knowledge of community-based organizations with resources, strategies, and partnerships to help increase reporting, support people who experience hate crimes directly, and reduce hate crime perpetration in New York City.
Challenge:
In 2023, over 11,000 hate crime incidents werereported to law enforcement agencies in the United States—the highest ever recorded. At the same time, hate crimes remain widely underreported and unaddressed, making it difficult to grasp the full extent of communities being impacted by hate crimes. This gap between reporting and effective response leaves many people who experience hate crimes directly and their communities susceptible to further victimization.
Community organizations are the backbone of thriving communities, with knowledge of, legitimacy among, and strong ties to the groups they serve. Yet their role in preventing and responding to hate crimes remains understudied and underutilized. In New York City, a coalition of organizations reflecting the diversity of NYC’s communities has been working to tackle hate and support people who experience hate crimes—and potentially be a model for effective hate crime strategies across the country.
Approach:
In 2024, the Department of Justice funded CUNY ISLG, Rutgers University, and Florida International University to develop a community-based research project in partnership with New York City’s community organizations to understand how to better prevent and respond to hate crimes. Key elements included:
Increasing victim reporting of hate crimes to community organizations in order to more effectively deploy local resources for hate crime prevention and response;
Improving support for people who experience ate crimes directly and communities affected by hate crimes, specifically by leveraging community organizations' knowledge of, and legitimacy within, these communities;
Strengthening coordination among community organizations to more effectively and proactively use resources and knowledge to prevent hate crimes and respond when they do occur.
The core project partners represent seven demographics affected disproportionately by hate crimes in New York City, including organizations that support Black/African American, Arab/Muslim, Asian and Pacific Islander, Latine, Jewish, Trans/LGBTQ, and Sikh communities. In addition to this group of religious organizations, cultural membership organizations, and advocacy organizations, the Mayor’s Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes (OPHC) funds and regularly convenes these providers and their constituent networks. Other partners include Safe Horizon, the Bronx District Attorney’s Office, and New York City’s Commission on Human Rights.
Progress:
Together, the project team has developed a community participatory research design—including interviews, focus groups, data analysis, surveys, document reviews, and more—to better understand, prevent, and respond to hate crimes, and chart CBOs’ roles in doing so. The project also employs a number of Community Research Associates who speak languages of communities impacted by hate crimes to more effectively outreach and conduct research with the study populations.
Community-based organizations leading this initiative include:
Data collection began in Spring 2025 and continues through 2026. This includes interviews with staff at community organizations, government agencies, and law enforcement practitioners that work to address hate crimes, interviews with people who experience hate crimes directly, and focus groups with members of communities impacted by hate crimes. If you are a survivor of a hate crime, we invite you to participate in an interview with CHIRRP to share your experiences and what you’d like to see change in the hate crime reporting and response systems. Please complete this form or reach out to Sana Khan at sana.khan@islg.cuny.edu.
Ongoing and up-to-date work related to CHIRRP can be found on CHIRRP.NYC. The website includes direct links to partner publications, project updates, hate crimes funding opportunities, and relevant hate crimes news articles. As project findings begin to emerge, we will hold discussion forums to develop recommendations and action steps for communities involved in the project, the dates of which will be announced on the CHIRRP website.
