Cure Violence Global recently completed an assessment that says Dayton is good fit for its violence prevention and reduction model that treats violence like a contagious disease. The organization identified potential target areas of North Riverdale in north Dayton and Miami Chapel in west Dayton.
A Dayton Police Department analysis of firearm-related homicides and felonious assaults from 1999 to 2024 found that violence has been concentrated in areas including the DeSoto Bass Courts in Miami Chapel and the North Main Street corridor, by the Santa Clara and North Riverdale neighborhoods.
Studies indicate that Cure Violence Global programs in other U.S. cities have led to large reductions in violence, shootings and killings, said Mayor Jeffrey Mims Jr., who believes Dayton’s new program will launch in mid- to late summer.
“It’s a problem we want to prevent,” he said. “I don’t want to lose one more life.”
Cure Violence Global is a Chicago-based organization that helps communities create violence prevention and reduction programs that take a public health approach to combating bloodshed.
The group worked closely with the city to complete a “readiness assessment” to determine if its model could work in the Gem City. CVG says Dayton has the capacity and the “political will” to launch a successful program.
CVG recommends that Public Health — Dayton & Montgomery County should be the oversight agency for the program, and the group said it can and will help find a community-based organization to implement the model.
Jennifer Wentzel, health commissioner with Public Health – Dayton & Montgomery County, said the agency “has been asked to play a role in addressing violence as a public health issue, and we are working to determine the most effective way for Public Health to support a meaningful, evidence-based and community-centered solution.”
CVG’s readiness assessment says Miami Chapel and North Riverdale are potential target areas. Miami Chapel starts at U.S. 35 near James H. McGee Blvd. and runs south past Germantown Pike and DeSoto Bass, to Louise Troy Elementary and the Humane Society. North Riverdale is a long neighborhood of homes between Main Street and Riverside Drive, running north from Ridge Avenue just past Siebenthaler.
A Dayton Daily News investigation earlier this year found that North Riverdale and Residence Park (in west Dayton) had the most incidents of violent gun crime in the city last year, and Miami Chapel had more gun violence than most city neighborhoods.
Maps created by the Dayton Police Department of firearm-related homicides and felonious assaults in the last five and the last 26 years suggest that hotspots included parts of Miami Chapel, the Summit Square apartment complex and sections of the North Main Street corridor, close to and around North Riverdale.
The readiness assessment says that information provided by the Dayton Police Department suggests that the nature of violent incidents in the city is consistent with other places where the CVG model has been implemented.
“Shootings and homicides take place in mostly public spaces in the community between individuals and groups who are in conflict for various reasons ranging from the sale of substances to interpersonal conflicts (often fueled by social media) to other ‘on the spot’ transactional disputes,” the report states.
Credit: Jim Noelker
Credit: Jim Noelker
CVG recommends that Dayton’s program employ 7-10 team members for every target area, which includes violence interrupters, outreach workers and supervisors and program managers. The assessment says a program in a target area could cost about $565,000 annually.
CVG’s model calls for hiring and training violence interrupters who try to prevent violence by identifying and mediating conflicts in the community before they can escalate. These “credible messengers” will try to link vulnerable community members who are at a high risk of being involved in violence with services like housing, food, employment and educational assistance and job skills training.
CVG says its model helped reduce killings by 75% in Charlotte; 43% in St. Louis; 32% in Baltimore; and 18% in Milwaukee. The organization says violence interruption programs in New York, Philadelphia and New Orleans resulted in sizable declines in shootings.
Mayor Mims said Dayton overall is a safe place, and the Gem City is safer than some other U.S. urban areas. But he said there is still too much violence in the community, and this program hopefully will help change that.
“It makes all the sense in the world for us to do this,” he said. “Getting this right means so, so much to every citizen, born and unborn, and every citizen who passes through Dayton, plus those who live here.”
Mims said more community members, and young people especially, need to be taught conflict resolution skills. Mims also said the violence interruption program is one part of his peace campaign, and the other components will focus on youth development and community engagement.
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