Jordan Costa

Dr. Jordan Costa is Associate Director of the GIFFORDS Center for Violence Intervention, where she works to strengthen and advance community-led approaches to reducing violence. Her career spans direct service, research, policy, philanthropy, and advocacy, with a focus on community trauma, structural violence, and the well-being of frontline violence intervention professionals. She began her work in community violence intervention at age 18, supporting young men recovering from violent injuries through hospital-based programs and connecting them with critical social services. Dr. Costa is a former doctoral fellow at the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center and an active member of the Black and Brown Collective for Community Solutions to Gun Violence and the Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium. She earned dual bachelor's degrees in Psychology and Criminology/Criminal Justice from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a PhD in Criminology and Criminal Justice from Rutgers University–Newark. Her commitment to this work is also informed by lived experience, having lost a parent to gun violence as a child.