HomeMy WebLinkAboutStar City Safe ReportGun Violence Prevention
Commission Report
Gun Violence Prevention Framework Workshop
Monday, April 10, 2023
Our Purpose
•Gather, review and study the issue of gun violence within the City of Roanoke;
•Make recommendations to city council for potential actions that the city may take to reduce the epidemic of gun violence within our community and to make recommendations for enhancing existing resources and campaigns; and
•Aid the city in making and developing community partnerships to assist in the reduction of gun violence.
Historical Timeline
2019:
•February –Public Safety Briefing
•May –Formation of City Council Appointed
Task Force to Reduce Gun Violence
•November –Recommendations of Task Force
adopted by Council
2020:
•Task Force renamed Study Committee
•February –convenes community stakeholders
•Covid-19 pauses activity
•July –reconvenes virtually with stakeholders
to develop implementation strategies for TF
recommendations
•November –action plans adopted by Council
Historical Timeline
2021:
•City Council creates standing, appointed nine-
member Gun Violence Prevention
Commission including budgeted line-item for
program support
•April –Commission creates Grant Writing
Team to research, write and apply for state
and federal grants
•May –Commission announces process for
city-wide mini grants in violence prevention
and intervention
•June/July –City is awarded State Youth and
Gang Violence Community Assessment and
GVIP Grants
•Community Stakeholder Meetings ongoing
•August –1st Round of Mini-grants awarded
Historical Timeline
2021:
•Sept-Dec –YGVC Assessment conducted and
summary shared with Council in 2022
•Youth Service Providers convened as part of
TAP’s mini-grant to center the voices of youth
in relationship to gun violence reduction
•Sept –Star City Strong: Response, Recovery,
Resilience Citizen Panel prioritizes $2 million
for Violence Interruption funding
•October –Youth and Gang Violence
Prevention Coordinator and Team hired and
begin work
Historical Timeline
2022:
•April –Mini-grant and Violence Interruption
Grant Cycle opened
•June/July -GVPC awards $400,000 for
Violence Interruption efforts in partnership
with local non-profit and faith-based
organizations
•GVPC awards $100,000 in second round of
mini-grants for prevention and intervention-
based programs
•City and GVPC contract with Engage
Strategies to build Communications Strategy
and Campaign to Reduce Gun Violence in
Community
•Sept -Community Stakeholders Update
•Commissioners identify liaisons to grantees to
monitor progress on grants
Historical Timeline
2023:
•GVP Commission Strategic Planning Retreat,
2/16 and 2/23
•Launching of Communications and Marketing
Campaign
•Crime Reduction Communications Campaign
(AG’s office)
•Hiring of Gun Violence Intervention Specialist
through Project Safe Neighborhoods working
with US District Attorney and law
enforcement to enhance prosecution of
violent criminals
Addressing Root Causes
8
•Income inequality
•Poverty
•Underfunded public housing
•Under-resourced public services
•Lack of opportunity and
perceptions of hopelessness
•Easy access to firearms by high-risk
people
•*Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence; now the Johns Hopkins
Center for Gun Violence Solutions
Addressing Root Causes
9
Locally, we add these:
•Lack of social connectedness
•Unhealed trauma
•Lack of social-emotional learning
Reflections
from Youth
Roundtable
Conversations
Keys to Transformation:
•Sense of Purpose and Identity
•Empowerment
•Cultural History and Context
•Seeing Self as Leader
•Influence as a Strength in Guiding Peers and Younger
Siblings/Children
Resources for Empowerment:
•Educational Experiences like AACCI
•Arts and Cultural Experiences and Opportunities
•Safe Spaces to Hang Out and Be Together
•Counseling Availability
•Conflict Resolution and Peer Support
•Employment Opportunities
•Addressing Transportation Barrier
•Connection to the Earth –Gardening
Prevention Efforts in Development by Youth Service
Providers Collaborative
Key Focus Areas:
•Youth Employment
•Mental Health
•Safe Spaces and Housing
•Youth Activities (including the recent Talent in the Star Performance
on March 24 in Shaftman Performance Hall –23 acts, 40 youth, full
house!)
Current Realities of
Gun Violence
in Our Community
Prevention Efforts
from initial recommendations of the Task Force to Reduce Gun
Violence and continuing…
Safer Neighborhoods:
•Bridging the Community Gap (Annual anti-violence event to raise
awareness, in collaboration with TAP and community partners)
•Reading Programs (first program was educational video using “Little
Blue Truck” in collaboration with RCPS, then reading programs at
Westside and Lincoln Terrace with 3rd and 4th graders)
•Crime prevention through environmental design (identifying areas in
city with highest incidents of gun violence and creating efforts to
clean-up blighted properties, enhance lighting and ensure safer
streets)
Prevention Efforts
Education:
•Creation and implementation of educational program based on social-
emotional learning skills development (Family Service of Roanoke
Valley created curricula and 17 community organizations have
received training and are implementing in after school programs)
•Increase parental and family support of Gun Safety Pledge and Gun
Lock Distribution program (in collaboration with RCPS and community
partners)
Prevention Efforts
Reduce Gang Activity, Violence and Incarceration Recidivism:
•Increased collaboration with RPD and community partners on
awareness and education regarding gangs
•Work with Sheriff’s Department and community partners to increase
access to programs, education and counseling for returning citizens
Prevention Efforts
Coordinated Rapid Response:
•Create 24-hour rapid response team and crisis intervention center
with live and text-based hotline for immediate response, anonymous
tips and conflict resolution (still in development)
•Collaborate with Carilion for hospital-based intervention program
•Recommended support for the RESET program grant (received and
implemented in 2020/2021)
•Assist FEDUP and other organizations with attaining 501c3 status
(FEDUP has completed process; also assisted BoxFit)
Prevention Efforts
Communications and Marketing:
•Hire a communications/marketing partner through competitive RFP
to assist Task Force and strategic partners in developing and rolling
out a branded public influence campaign to address gun violence in
community (currently working with Engage Strategies and 5 Points
Creative)
Additional Prevention Efforts
•Development of Parenting Videos (pilot video “Normal Development”
completed; second video “Punishment vs. Discipline” underway)
•“Be A Resilience Champion” training provided in collaboration with Roanoke
Prevention Alliance for community members
•Roanoke Remembers (Community Memorial Events held in 2019 and 2022 in
remembrance of individuals who have died from acts of violence)
•GVPC Presentations to Faith-based Partners (ongoing)
•Community Garden at EnVision Center –Lansdowne (ongoing)
•Lincoln Terrace Reading Program (ongoing)
•Community Presentations on the Impact of Trauma and Intersections with
Violence (ongoing)
Additional Prevention Efforts
•Trauma and Emotional Awareness with Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing
Authority and Community Cookout (ongoing)
•Discussion regarding development of a Trauma-Response Team (for immediate
response to incidents of gun violence in collaboration with RPD, Fire/EMS, and
RESET)
•Soul Box Project (Artist in Residence Jane Gabrielle McCadden)
•Watershed Project: A Review of the Connection between gun violence incidents
in watershed areas and a lack of tree canopy (Artist in Residence Jane Gabrielle
McCadden)
•Dreaming Big Initiative (Artist in Residence Simone Patterson, EnVision Center)
•Completion of first Youth and Gang Violence Community Assessment in 2021;
second once scheduled for Fall of 2023
Intervention Efforts
Intervention Efforts
•Worked with Better Agreements to pilot a community conflict resolution
program in the fall of 2022. The first cohort had five graduates. We will continue
to explore ways to strengthen a similar program in the future.
•Trauma Basics Training for community residents and families (two held in 2021,
new sessions being planned for roll out in 2023)
•Access to Trauma Counseling and Mental Health Support in collaboration with
community partners -Family Service of Roanoke Valley received a $150,000
U.S. Department of Justice $150,000 grant to place a Mental Health provider at
the EnVision Center for families to access for counseling over the next two
years
Intervention Efforts
•$100,000 awarded to ten non-profit and faith-based organizations for gun
violence prevention and intervention programs (2022). This will be replicated in
2023 and 2024.
•$400,000 awarded to thirteen non-profit and faith-based organizations for
Violence Interruption programs through 2024. One of these efforts included
Groceries Not Guns, a successful gun buyback program now being duplicated by
localities across Virginia and the nation.
Intervention Efforts
•Operation Neighborhood PinpointUsing a public health approach, community partners will work with the Roanoke Police Department to identify locations throughout our city that have become hotspots for gun violence and criminal activity. Using data, we will collaborate in a community-based effort, with a team of neighborhood leaders and residents to form Operation Pinpoint Teams to create intervention and prevention-based, immediate response actions to both address and reduce the gun violence in the identified area. This approach will provide more direct intervention through increased opportunities, social services and quality of life services for individuals and families at risk and the ability through community engagement to increase long-term resiliency. The initial area of focus is Hanover Ave in NW Roanoke. Agency Leads: United Way of Roanoke Valley and Youth and Gang Violence Prevention Coordinator
Response Efforts
•RESET (Rapid Engagement of Support in the Event of Trauma)Team
Outreach (Lloyd Merchant, Coordinator + team of
community volunteers) who have responded with 40 community
visits to homes and neighborhoods impacted by gun violence and
accompanying trauma (ongoing)
•Coordinated rapid response supportive services and family assistance
in collaboration with Carilion and community partners for persons
experiencing effects of gun violence (ongoing)
Response Efforts
Support of FEDUP (Families Experiencing Deliverance Using Prayer)
including completion of non-profit status to better assist families with
immediate and long-term support after acts of gun violence. FEDUP
has expanded their program to include “Let’s Go Orange” for June 3,
2023, in support of gun violence awareness, and a monthly grief
support group which is transforming the lives of women and children
impacted by gun violence
Current Response Efforts
Carilion Clinic: Violent Injury Recovery & Support Program (VIRS) -
$200,000
•It is not unusual for Carilion’s trauma teams to respond to gun-related
injuries on a daily basis. Now, they are launching the VIRS program to
assist gun violence survivors beyond the bedside with the help of a
new team member: an intervention specialist. The intervention
specialist will act as a care coordinator, connecting survivors with
resources that help them with long-term, quality of life recovery (e.g.,
mental health resources, housing, and more).
Current Response Efforts
•City of Roanoke/TAP: Gun Violence Emergency Relocation Project (GV-ER) -$200,000
TAP’s GV-ER project will focus on relocating low-income families in the City of Roanoke from hot spots of violence and/or unsafe living conditions that would likely expose them to further violence. It follows a model TAP has seen success with for victims of domestic violence. GV-ER includes a scattered site housing-first approach to increase the safety of families at the highest risk of gun violence, as well as strong supportive services to address trauma. It will also provide affected families with supportive services to address prior trauma, increase mental well-being, and help families sustain safe housing. The goal is to serve between 12 and 24 families over the grant term.
Funding Sources
2020/2021:
•$75,000 –General Funds (utilized for pilot programs and initial
round of mini-grants to seventeen community partners)
2021:
•$25,000 Youth and Gang Violence Community Assessment (State)
•$500,000 Gun Violence Intervention Program Grant (Youth and
Gang Violence Prevention Team and Program support) (State)
Funding Sources
•2021/2022:
•$75,000 in General Funds (utilized for purchase and distribution of
8,000 gun locks in collaboration with RCPS; and creation and
implementation of Operation Neighborhood Pinpoint program
(based on a model from Chicago) in collaboration with United Way of
Roanoke Valley, Youth and Gang Violence Prevention Team and
community partners)
•$2,000,000 prioritized by Citizen Panel of local ARPA funding for
Violence Interruption
Funding Sources
2022:
•$648,661 Funding for 13 School Security Officers (State)
•$6,528,748 Roanoke City 599 Public Safety Funding (State)
•$28,193 Staffing for RPD Domestic Violence Specialist (State)
•$200,000 (CBGVLI) Gun Violence Emergency Relocation Program (TAP)
•$150,000 (Title II) TEAM Juvenile Justice Youth Exposure to Gun Violence
(Family Service, Envision Center Mental Health Specialist)
•$200,000 (CBGVI) Hospital Based Violence Injury Program (Carilion)
•$300,000 for continued funding in support of Youth and Gang Violence
Prevention Team and RESET Outreach Worker (AG’s Office)
•$700,000+ for law enforcement enhanced crime analysis and equipment (State)
Strategic Plan
Recommendations
Recommendation 1:
To continue the research process of gathering
and reviewing evidence-based data related to
the root causes of gun violence
: More informed City government
and community
Recommendation 2:
To codify a framework for the City of Roanoke’s
gun violence funding support of prevention,
intervention and response efforts
: The Gun Violence Prevention
Commission structure is aligned with other
existing City Advisory Boards and Commissions
Recommendation 3:
Secure ongoing funding for gun violence
prevention, intervention and response efforts by
identifying sources of dedicated and sustainable
funding streams
: City and Commission resourced to
address gun violence in the community in
coordination with approved recommendations
Recommendation 4:
To increase and sustain partnerships within
the community to aid in the reduction of gun
violence
: Supported and enhanced resources
and partnerships to address gun violence
Recommendation 5:
To implement a public campaign to promote the
City’s efforts to prevent, interrupt and respond to
gun violence
: The community is informed on the
causes of gun violence, the resources that exist,
and the City’s response
Recommendation 6:
To support the GVPC internal committee
structure and stakeholder engagement plan
: An internal structure to support the
work of the Commission
Recommendation 7:
To add one youth and one young adult (non-
voting) seat to the GVPC
: Youth perspectives incorporated
into the planning and recommendations
around gun violence
Recommendation 8:
To address, with the City Council, the root causes
of gun violence with these recommendations in an
identified and prioritized section of the city
: An informed and focused response to
root causes and opportunities to combat gun
violence
Thank you!
Star City Safe
Strategic Initiative
April 10, 2023
44
Gun Violence Prevention
Council Workshop
Working Group Status
Report
•Libraries
•Parks & Recreation
•Human Resources
•Berglund Center
•Police -RESET Coordination
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What is Star City Safe?
•Gun Violence is larger than one department (Police).
•Provides additional funding to Departments to add or continue programming.
•The program is focused on teens and young adults.
•Is a collaborative approach to a challenge.
•2021 –June 2022 -Budget $280,000
•2021 –December 2024 Berglund Center $20,000
•2022 –December 2024 –Budget $250,000
•2022 -June 2024 Granted Funding $150,000
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Parks and Recreation
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Library
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HR APPRENTICESHIPS
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Berglund Center
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National Night Out 2022
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Community Partners
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RESET/Star City Safe
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YMCA of Virginia’s Blue Ridge
Every Thursday, we facilitate access to the YMCA for
youth to engage in recreational activities. The
transportation from Melrose library to the YMCA and
back is provided for this purpose. Typically, this outing
sees a participation of fifteen (15) or more youths
comprising of both male and female participants. For
supervision, at least three (3) staff are present on site.
We are proud to report that we have not faced any
significant challenges in managing this group thus far.
Additionally, participants may access the YMCA
individually on days other than Thursdays, provided
they are accompanied by a mentor.
Mentors / Melrose Library
RESET provides staff to support young
people in the community when
attending the Melrose library. As part of
this program, staff regularly assist at the
Melrose Library, where they provide
help to library staff with the
management of a sometimes large
number of youth.
Currently the RESET program has five (5)
mentors on a rotating schedule,
ensuring there is always support
available at the library. They bring a
wealth of experience and expertise to
their roles, helping the youth to stay
focused and engaged in productive
activities while at the library. They also
serve as positive role models and offer
guidance and advice to the youth when
needed.
Strokes of Genius Tutoring
Under the Whole-of-Government initiative, we have
engaged the services of Mr. Doug Pitzer, the
proprietor, to offer academic tutoring support to
students experiencing difficulties in their studies.
Tutoring provides improved academic performance
by reinforcing subject matter that they may be
struggling with. Additionally, tutors can help
students develop study skills and test-taking
strategies that can help them succeed academically.
RESET/Star City Safe
•I, along with William Dungee and Thomas Robinson, visited the Roanoke Valley Juvenile Detention Center to engage with youth in an effort to deter them from continued delinquent behaviors upon release. We spoke with two groups of youth, namely pods E & F, which comprised older and younger detainees respectively.
•To begin the session, I introduced myself and explained the purpose of our visit. Then, Mr. Thomas Robinson shared his experience of spending over forty years in prison due to getting into trouble, and the things he missed out on it life. He emphasized the significance of avoiding defiant behaviors and engaging in pro-delinquent actions. Next, Mr. William Dungee talked about the twenty years he spent in prison and how it caused him to lose out on his childhood. He revealed how he lost his parents while incarcerated and how the time he served in prison was not worth the crimes he committed. He shared regret of not making wiser decisions and losing his son to gun violence. He urged the youth to make good, choices, stay away from gangs, focus on education and employment, and start living a fruitful life.
•The youth were attentive and engaged in conversation during the Q&A period. We spoke to a total of sixteen (16) youth, and some of them pledged to make positive changes once released, but expressed the need for help. I provided contact information to staff and advised youth who are seriously committed to making a positive change to contact me directly.
•At the conclusion of this meeting, staff expressed their satisfaction with the outcome and requested that we consider returning on a monthly basis to conduct group sessions with the youth.
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Roanoke Valley Juvenile Detention Visit
Mentoring, Coaching & Caring
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RESET/Star City Safe
•Mr. Latorie Woodberry’s Box-Fit program is an exceptional opportunity for youth to engage in the sport of boxing. With all required equipment provided, Mr. Woodberry accommodates up to eight (8) youth, regardless of gender, who are interested in learning the fundamentals of boxing.
•The program is designed to achieve several goals, including improving fitness, focus, self-defense, self-control, confidence, respect, social development, and discipline. In addition, boxing provides an outlet that may enhance issues with self-control and/or anger. The classes are structured and offer a positive outlet for the release of stored-up anger and energy, while also teaching participants how to better manage their emotions.
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Boxing & Brawling LLC (Box-Fit)
RESET/Star City Safe
RESET, in collaboration with Mr. LatorieWoodberry (Boxing & Brawling), organized a team-building adventure for members of the Box-Fit program at the Cascades located in Pembroke, VA. The event was attended by eleven participants and three staff members, all of whom successfully completed a challenging 4-mile hike while enjoying the breathtaking beauty of nature. Throughout the adventure, participants learned valuable lessons about teamwork and collaboration, which proved essential to their success in overcoming the obstacles encountered along the way.
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Cascades Hiking Trip with Box-fit