Community Violence as a Population Health Issue Proceedings of a Workshop (2017) / Chapter Skim
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4 Local Strategies to Build Community Resilience and Safety
4 Local Strategies to Build Community Resilience and Safety
Pages 31-42
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From page 31... ...
at Jacobi Medical Center, described the public health model he and his colleagues are using to address violence in the community. DeVone Boggan, founder and chief executive officer of Advance Peace, then discussed a program he created in Richmond, California, to address gun violence by working directly with the individuals most responsible for gun violence in that community.
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From page 32... ...
. • The key to stopping gun violence is to engage directly with and be in formed by those individuals who are suspected to be the most lethal active firearm offenders and who have avoided sustained criminal consequences (Boggan)
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From page 33... ...
The third component works to change community norms to create social pressure to stop violence, which Rodríguez explained requires engaging community leaders, residents, business owners, and faith leaders to bring awareness to the devastation gun violence has on communities and to change attitudes so that community members reject violence in the community. Too often, he added, community members become desensitized to violence and accept it as the way things are.
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From page 34... ...
Instead of mulling over and getting angry about a recent argument with some perceived enemy, these individuals can find their outreach workers, who can then deescalate the situation. To illustrate Cure Violence's power to prevent violence, Rodríguez discussed one of the major conflicts in the Jacobi program's target area.
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From page 35... ...
The hospital also serves as the nexus for follow-on support in the form of specialized social, educational, vocational, and recreational services. AN INCLUSIVE APPROACH TO ADVANCING PEACE4 For DeVone Boggan, the key to stopping gun violence is to engage directly with and be informed by those individuals who are suspected to be the most lethal, active firearm offenders and who have avoided sustained criminal consequences.
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From page 36... ...
This non–law enforcement agency was formed to specifically address gun violence, rather than gang violence in general, and to be responsible for capacity building to support the reduction of gun violence and improve coordination of services across government and nongovernmental institutions in this area. The creation of this office was a big step, said Boggan, because gang violence prevention programs rarely focus on active firearm offenders.
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From page 37... ...
He gave his outreach workers 3 months to convince these 28 people to come to city hall to talk to him, to ensure them that this was not a sophisticated law enforcement sting, and that he had an alternative lifestyle opportunity he wanted to present to them. In June 2010, the Operation Peacemaker Fellowship was started with the 21 young men -- 3 were lost to gunfire and 4 did not choose to participate -- who arrived at city hall in three groups to discuss how they could partner with Boggan and his staff to reduce gun violence in Richmond.
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From page 38... ...
What is important is that these elders are not afraid of these young men and are willing to talk to them and meet them where they are, said Boggan. After 18 months in the program, most of these men are not the same people they were when they showed up at city hall to hear the Fellowship offer.
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From page 39... ...
Boggan said there has to be a deliberate and intentional approach to value the assets these individuals bring to the table and to value these individuals as an important part of the solution to the problem of gun violence. He recounted how when he brought the first group of young men to city hall, he provided name tags with their legal names, not street names, informational Fellowship packets in front of their placards, and lots of good food.
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From page 40... ...
Boggan added that unless the mainstream social service and public health platforms are pushed to intentionally engage in the areas of a community where gun violence is concentrated where many young "upstream" individuals exist, but are rarely if ever touched by the current platforms, he will never be put out of business, which is his ultimate goal. Daniel Webster of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health noted that he has been studying how to prevent violence for about 25 years and what Boggan shared at the workshop is consistent with everything that he has learned.
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From page 41... ...
These interactions, said Rodríguez, can change the entire dynamics of their relationships. He recounted how one of his outreach workers, who had been a member of the Bloods, would not travel to an area considered Crips territory because he feared for his safety.
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From page 42... ...
Maria Santiago of the Healing Center asked if these programs include discussions about partner violence and the roles men need to play in the lives of their partners and children. Rodríguez said Cure Violence's treatment plans include peer-to-peer counseling and access to resources on parenting, substance abuse, and other subjects that can increase the vulnerability of these young men.
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