City leaders look to contract with national nonprofit to address gun violence in Toledo
May 5—Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz wants to contract with Cure Violence Global Inc. to bolster his initiative to reduce gun violence, which he launched in earnest in February.
The Chicago-based nonprofit organization was founded in 2000 by a former head of the World Health Organization's Intervention Development Unit and addresses gun violence as if it were a contagious illness. JoJuan Armour, program director of the city's gun violence reduction initiative, said training by Cure Violence will allow him and his team of yet-to-be-hired violence interrupters to engage at-risk individuals in a productive way and de-escalate tensions.
The contract will cost the city $80,000, a general fund expenditure for which Toledo City Council is scheduled to vote next Tuesday.
"We're not trying to recreate the wheel. We're not trying to come up with something that hasn't been proven to be effective," Armour told council members during an agenda-review meeting Tuesday. "So having Cure Violence gives us an opportunity to address these individuals that are the highest risk."
Legislative Director Gretchen DeBacker said the Cure Violence model will help the team with intervention strategies to prevent gun violence in Toledo. She said it's guided by an understanding that gun violence is a public-health issue and that communities can change for the better.
The model addresses violence just as it would address a disease, Ms. DeBacker told council. It helps identify and deflect conflicts, identify and treat high-risk individuals, and change social norms.
She said the $80,000 contract will include data-analysis services and an expert review of community partnerships and meetings to help determine Toledo's next steps in its fight to curb gun violence. Ms. DeBacker said the violence interrupters will be key to Toledo's success, and contracting with Cure Violence will help city officials train them effectively.
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"It's truly individualized, grassroots, on-the-street intervention that interrupts the violence and the trauma from expanding to other members in the family and to other members in the community," she said.
Councilman Sam Melden said he was impressed by Armour's first community meeting regarding gun violence, held April 17 at Scott High School, and said he is confident Armour can combine public-policy initiatives with the day-to-day neighborhood realities and create change.
He said he supports the work, but he wants to make sure the city is annually measuring what works and what doesn't.
Armour and Ms. DeBacker said they can keep city council updated on the program's progress, and in the meantime share success stories and data from other cities Cure Violence has worked with.
Councilman Tiffany Preston Whitman said Toledo's struggle with gun violence has been years in the making, and she cautioned her colleagues not to be discouraged or critical if intervention programs don't work immediately.
"We're talking about years of historic disinvestment in certain communities, so I think it's important for us to be very careful when we're talking about wanting to have metrics when there was a time when we had community members who were not being heard," she said. "This is the time for us to make sure we take the time needed to address this issue."
Armour said he has additional community meetings planned to continue discussing gun violence reduction strategies at the neighborhood level.
