RELEASE: White House to Host National Offices of Violence Prevention Network

Contact: Shantay Jackson, shantay@nicjr.org

Oakland, CA:

The National Offices of Violence Prevention Network (NOVPN) is excited to share details of an upcoming event that is the first of its kind in our nation’s history.

On May 22, 2024, members of the National Offices of Violence Prevention Network will participate in an event hosted by the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention focused on community violence intervention and collaborative work to build an ecosystem of Offices of Violence Prevention (OVPs) to keep our communities safe.

OVPs, also known as offices of neighborhood safety and other names, are premised on the notion that community safety should not be the exclusive province of policing and the criminal justice system. Charged with addressing public safety through the lens of public health, OVPs typically focus on the application of community-based strategies to intervene in or prevent violence for those at highest risk of engaging in or being the victim of gun violence.

Numerous local and state governments have recently established OVPs in response to nationwide surges in violence during the COVID-19 pandemic. In line with this momentum, in September 2023, President Biden established the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention to reduce gun violence and implement and expand upon key executive and legislative action which has been taken to save lives. This White House gathering of leaders of OVPs from more than 40 jurisdictions across the country represents an exciting next step in President Biden’s commitment to ending gun violence in our country.

“Offices of violence prevention are vital to the violence reduction ecosystem and have been instrumental in the drop in shootings in cities across the country over the past two years,” said David Muhammad, Executive Director of NICJR and co-Founder of the National OVP Network. “We are excited about the tremendous growth in the number of OVPs nationally in the past few years, which has further contributed to the reduction in gun violence in that time.“

“The NOVPN team is excited to have Network members from across the country join us at the White
House in this first-of-its-kind discussion in our nation’s history,” said National OVP Network Director Shantay Jackson. “These leaders are at the forefront of their local jurisdictions, working tirelessly with their communities and partner agencies in the reduction of gun violence and, as we head into the summer months, this conversation is necessary, timely, and invaluable.”

NOVPN

The National Offices of Violence Prevention Network (NOVPN) is a novel learning community with the goal of significantly increasing the expertise and effectiveness of offices of violence prevention and other similar agencies. The NOVPN hosts virtual and in-person convenings; provides trainings on violence reduction practices; coordinates cross-OVP learning exchanges; offers leadership development; and builds OVP capacity in data collection, fund development, and media relations. The NOVPN also supports the creation of new OVPs in jurisdictions interested in developing such agencies, and the Network partners with the White House’s National Office of Gun Violence Prevention to facilitate access to OVPs. Originally established in 2021 with a membership of 21 established OVPs, the Network has grown to nearly 60 members, including multiple state-level offices of violence prevention and local OVPs launched with NOVPN support. To learn more, visit https://ovpnetwork.org/. The NOVPN is a strategic initiative of the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (NICJR). To learn more about NICJR, visit https://nicjr.org/.

RELEASE: NICJR Announces Launch of Violence Reduction Management Institute

Contact: Isabel Tayag Parker, isabel@nicjr.org

Oakland, CA:

Today, members of the National Offices of Violence Prevention Network (NOVPN) attended an event hosted by the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention that focused on community violence intervention and collaborative work to build an ecosystem of offices of violence prevention (OVPs) that can keep our communities safe. Representatives from 48 OVPs from throughout the country gathered for this event, which was the first of its kind in our nation’s history.

During today’s event, the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (NICJR, convener of the NOVPN) announced its plans to launch a Violence Reduction Management Institute. Through NICJR’s work in numerous jurisdictions, we have experienced that one of the greatest obstacles to implementing successful violence reduction strategies is ineffective management.

Additionally, NICJR is frequently asked to help identify quality candidates that local governments can hire as OVP directors, but the recruitment pool is limited due to the unique skillsets needed for these positions. OVP directors are charged with bringing a public health lens to the work of violence reduction, and they must be skilled in public administration, managing cross-functional project teams, nurturing community relationships, and using data to inform strategies and foster accountability, among other abilities.

“We are excited to launch the Violence Reduction Management Institute, an innovative initiative to train and place violence prevention leaders in vital positions,” said David Muhammad, Executive Director of NICJR. “We have found that in cities across the country where NICJR is helping to implement comprehensive gun violence reduction strategies, lacking strong management skills is one of the greatest barriers to success.”

The Management Institute marks an exciting step toward addressing these challenges. The Institute will intentionally prioritize cultivating OVP directors by providing intensive management training, site visits to OVPs across the country, a fellowship and learning community (including mentoring), and job placement support upon graduation. Participants will gain knowledge and skills in areas such as effective community violence intervention strategies, managing projects and people, communications, fiscal management, and more. Through the Management Institute, NICJR is excited to cultivate violence reduction leaders who will hit the ground running in communities throughout the US.

The Violence Reduction Management Institute is being launched with generous support from the Jacob & Valeria Langeloth Foundation.

NOVPN

The National Offices of Violence Prevention Network (NOVPN) is a first-of-its-kind learning community with the goal of significantly increasing the expertise and effectiveness of offices of violence prevention and other similar agencies. The NOVPN is a strategic initiative of the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (NICJR). The NOVPN hosts virtual and in-person convenings; provides trainings on violence reduction practices; coordinates cross-OVP learning exchanges; offers leadership development; and builds OVP capacity in data collection, fund development, and media relations. The NOVPN also supports the creation of new OVPs in jurisdictions interested in developing such agencies, and the Network partners with the White House’s National Office of Gun Violence Prevention to facilitate access to OVPs. Originally established in 2021 with a membership of 21 established OVPs, the Network has grown to nearly 60 members, including multiple state-level offices of violence prevention and local OVPs launched with NOVPN support. To learn more, visit https://ovpnetwork.org/. To learn more about NICJR, visit https://nicjr.org/.

Report: National OVP Landscape Scan

The National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (NICJR), along with its staff and partners, has worked
to create and provide technical assistance to OVPs throughout the country for more than 15 years. Over
the past 18 months, NICJR has worked closely with a group of OVP Directors to plan the creation of this
National OVP Network. NICJR is partnering with Advance Peace to lead this national initiative, as well
as the Center for American Progress and Cities United. Our premise is that safety should not be the
exclusive responsibility of policing and the criminal system. Investments should be made in less invasive
interventions, prevention, and in promoting healthy lifestyles and communities.

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New leader of Milwaukee’s Office of Violence Prevention understands that ‘baby steps’ are sometimes needed to make huge change

Flash back to graduate school.

Arnitta Holliman is working on her master’s degree in clinical psychology at Marquette University and working in the psychological services unit in the Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility.

She is learning about some of the problems people deal with and traumatic experiences they encounter before ever committing a crime. She sees that many didn’t get help because of the general stigma around mental health or because they didn’t know about resources that were available to them.

Working with these people drives home a point she already understood: that progress can be defined in small increments.

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St. Paul commission suggests new violence prevention office, end to pretext stops

St. Paul

Commission suggests alternatives to traditional 911 responses by police.

By Katie Galioto Star Tribune, May 19, 2021

A St. Paul commission tasked with rethinking how the city responds to emergencies recommended the creation of a new neighborhood safety office and the end of pretextual traffic stops by police, among other steps.

Mayor Melvin Carter created the 48-member Community-First Public Safety Commission in December to examine alternative ways of handling low-priority 911 calls. With members drawn from local government, community organizations, philanthropy, law enforcement and more, the commission met for five months.

In a Wednesday presentation to the City Council, the commission suggested that St. Paul establish an Office of Neighborhood Safety akin to Minneapolis’ Office of Violence Prevention, which was launched in 2019 and aims to curb violence by treating it as a public health crisis. Minneapolis nearly tripled the agency’s funding this year to $7.4 million in the face of twin demands to curb police brutality and address surging violent crime.

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Office for Safe & Healthy Neighborhoods Director outlines whole-of-government approach to Metro Council

Louisville

LouisvilleKY.gov, May 17, 2021

Dr. Monique Williams, director of the city’s Office for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods (OSHN), spoke today to Metro Council, outlining many of the ways that Mayor Greg Fischer’s FY22 budget would enhance the Department’s role in helping create a safer Louisville.

Mayor Fischer’s proposed FY22 budget would invest $4.5 million in OSHN to advance his whole-of-government approach to violence reduction. This investment includes expansion of the Pivot to Peace initiative – evidence-based gun violence reduction strategies, including the existing hospital-based partnership, as well as an outreach system, clergy response team, and supports for the Gun Violence Intervention program. With the hospital-based initiative alone, the city has reduced injury recidivism among participants by 95 percent.

“Mayor Fischer’s proposed FY22 budget expands strategies for violence prevention and intervention,” Dr. Williams said. “And it grows critical community outreach efforts and support networks, based on targeted areas for the city.”

A critical component, she said, involves community-based intervention through evidence-based models that have shown success at disrupting cycles of violence, victimization and retaliation. That includes strategic outreach, intensive case management – with peer support and mentorship, behavioral therapy and counseling, job training and skills building, conflict mediation, relocation away from dangerous situations – as well as a coordinated crisis response.

“All of these approaches, when adequately resourced and implemented with fidelity, have proven to significantly reduce rates of both fatal and non-fatal gun violence,” Dr. Williams said. “Louisville needs an intervention outreach and support system that focuses on community-based case management and crisis response. Successful intervention requires being able to identify, connect and support – and we only do that through a coordinated system.”

Dr. Williams said the Mayor’s budget also would support a prevention strategy that mobilizes communities for violence prevention through capacity building, education, advocacy, and action. That would include using a Community Health Development approach to provide training and technical assistance to individuals and organizations that would act as Violence Prevention Ambassadors, implementing collaborative, community-specific frameworks for community violence prevention.

Dr. Williams added that the city must heed the voices of its youth, who were actively engaged on issues of violence this past year, specifically addressing structural violence and advocating for policy changes necessary for reducing violence in our city. “This is our goal, as a city,” she said, “and we must make the investments necessary to reach that goal.”

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RELEASE: 20+ Cities Launch National Offices of Violence Prevention Network, Building on the Movement To Reimagine Public Safety

Date: February 2, 2021
Contact: Cheryl Bonacci
Email: cheryl@nicjr.org

Oakland, CA — Today, 21 cities across the country joined with the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (NICJR), Advance Peace, and the Center for American Progress to launch the National Offices of Violence Prevention Network, a coalition of local governments committed to reimagining public safety. The newly formed Network brings together the leaders of civilian local government offices dedicated to community-driven safety solutions, known as offices of violence prevention (OVPs).

Through OVPs, cities are making meaningful investments in violence prevention and intervention strategies that strengthen neighborhood well-being while shrinking the footprint of the criminal justice system. The National OVP Network will serve as a community of practice for local OVPs as they work to create safe, healthy, and thriving neighborhoods in cities across the country. At a moment when local leaders are pioneering a new approach to public safety, the Network will provide vital opportunities for OVPs to learn from their peers, connect with leading national experts, and build capacity to implement, evaluate, and sustain a community-driven safety agenda.

“We are excited to partner with our colleagues from around the country to form this network and learning community of local government agencies working to reduce violence in their areas,” said David Muhammad, executive director of NICJR, who will co-direct the National OVP Network. “We will support member cities and counties to build their capacity, launch new programs, expand their data collection capabilities and, most importantly, save lives.”

“The professionals who lead these city and county agencies have proven to be dynamic leaders in their field, and we are honored to create this national network to uplift and expand their important work. As we have seen violence increase across America over the past year in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of this network is even more essential to producing healthier, safer, and more just communities,” said DeVone Boggan, founder and CEO of Advance Peace, national partner at NICJR, and co-director of the National OVP Network. Muhammad and Boggan also worked together in 2005 to create the first-of-its-kind Office of Violence Prevention in Richmond, California, now known as the Office of Neighborhood Safety.

“We are honored to support the National OVP Network, a group of cities that are leaders in the movement to reshape public safety policy. Through the Network, we hope to share what’s possible when local governments step up and make a tangible commitment to building safe, thriving communities,” said Betsy Pearl, associate director for Criminal Justice Reform at CAP, a partner organization in the National OVP Network.

Founding members of the National OVP Network include, Birmingham, Alabama; Chicago; Indianapolis; Los Angeles; Los Angeles County, California; Louisville, Kentucky; Milwaukee; Minneapolis; New York; Newark, New Jersey; Newport News, Virginia; Oakland, California; Philadelphia; Portland, Oregon; Ramsey County, Minnesota; Richmond, California; Sacramento, California; San Bernardino, California; South Bend, Indiana; Stockton, California; and Washington, D.C.

The movement to invest in community-driven solutions builds on decades of advocacy from organizers and activists nationwide, calling for an approach to public safety that does not rely solely on policing and prisons. With generous support from the Microsoft Justice Reform Initiative and the Joyce Foundation, the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform is proud to partner with Advance Peace and the Center for American Progress to help OVPs bring their community’s vision for public safety into reality.

To learn more about the National OVP Network, visit: www.OVPnetwork.org.

For more information, please contact Aman Sebahtu at aman@nicjr.org.

The National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (NICJR) works to reduce incarceration and violence, improve the outcomes of system-involved youth and adults, and increase the capacity and expertise of the organizations that serve these individuals. NICJR provides technical assistance, consulting, research, organizational development, and advocacy in the fields of juvenile and criminal justice, youth development, and violence prevention. NICJR works with an array of organizations, including government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and philanthropic foundations.

Advance Peace is dedicated to ending cyclical and retaliatory gun violence in American urban neighborhoods. We invest in the development, health, and wellbeing of those at the center of this crisis.

The Center for American Progress is a nonpartisan research and educational institute dedicated to promoting a strong, just and free America that ensures opportunity for all. We believe that Americans are bound together by a common commitment to these values and we aspire to ensure that our national policies reflect these values. We work to find progressive and pragmatic solutions to significant domestic and international problems and develop policy proposals that foster a government that is “of the people, by the people, and for the people.”

New violence prevention effort begins in Louisville

Louisville

Mayor Greg Fischer and United States Attorney Russell Coleman joined community leaders, police, members of the city’s business and non-profit community, Metro Council and the state today to announce a new approach to violence prevention in Louisville that works by directly engaging those most intimately involved in and affected by violence.

Called Group Violence Intervention (GVI), the approach leverages an intentional collaboration among law enforcement, social service providers and community members, who collectively co-sign and deliver the anti-violence message.

A basic tenet of the model is that many neighborhoods have had long and negative experiences with harmful and unequal treatment by the criminal justice system. In these areas, residents don’t feel protected by law enforcement – rather, they feel historically overpoliced and under-protected. GVI is an explicit departure from this, starting with recognition that a community is fundamentally healthy and resilient, and a new approach is necessary to keep every member of the community alive and free.

Developed by Professor David M. Kennedy of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City, the success of GVI hinges on the partnership’s ability to correctly and effectively deliver the message that everyone needs and deserves to be safe; there is a very small number of people at extremely high risk for violent victimization and violent offending; and GVI is designed to keep them safe, alive, and free.

GVI puts together an intense focus to support those at-risk residents in their daily lives, communicate community norms in support of everyone’s safety and success, and when necessary, create swift, certain, and legitimate sanctions for violence.

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Meet the Minneapolis ‘violence interrupters’

Minneapolis

The city has employed community members to head off conflicts before they turn deadly.

Once you see them, you can’t miss them: A group of 20 people in bright orange T-shirts roaming city streets into the early morning hours, armed with knowledge about their community and a desperate wish to stop the gunfire.

They’re called “violence interrupters,” and they’re part of the city’s plan to curb an ongoing cycle of fatal retaliations at a time when shootings are at a five-year high in Minneapolis.

“I’m tired of it,” said Yulonda Royster, a violence interrupter who was starting her shift Friday night in downtown Minneapolis. “Every day there is some young Black boy being killed being shot. All of this gang violence, it can be prevented.”

The violence interrupters are paid employees of the city’s Office of Violence Prevention — not the police department. City officials launched the program about a month ago and modeled the group after similar efforts in New York City and Philadelphia.

On this night, most of the interrupters rounding the corner onto Hennepin Avenue are Black men. Royster is one of the few women.

Royster said she knows about the violence that can consume certain young men. When she and her family lived in north Minneapolis, one of her three sons was active in gangs, was wounded in a shooting, and was incarcerated, she recalled.

“My son comes from a good home, but still,” she said, “I didn’t have that village, that support, while I was out working one job always full time — sometimes two — and being in school. He was out on the streets a lot of times.”

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Why Is Violence Spiking? Maybe Because the Interrupters Have Been Disrupted.

WHAT TO KNOW TODAY

A theory for this year’s rise in violent crime: The pandemic disrupted some of the most promising community-led models. As numerous data analyses have shown, homicide and shootings are up sharply in 2020, even as most other types of crime are down. Some city officials have linked the spike to changes in the criminal justice system or policing, including prisoner releases to avoid virus outbreaks in detention facilities or law enforcement slowdowns amid protests. An article in The New York Times considers a different explanation, focusing on proven and promising community models for reducing violence that have faced setbacks this year — either because of budget cuts or social distancing requirements that have derailed work that’s most effective when it involves “a pat on the shoulder, a touch on the hand.”

Summer or transitional jobs programs were canceled or curtailed
Hospital-based intervention programs were barred from bedside because of restrictions on patient visitors
Mentorship for students has also gone virtual with the closure of classrooms

Anti-violence leaders lauded the analysis’ emphasis on interventions that don’t rely on arrest and incarceration.