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a framework for violence prevention & gun reform Towards a New Age for Community Safety 20232 TOWARDS A NEW AGE FOR COMMUNITY SAFETY NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE OUR CONTRIBUTORS Thought Leadership Authors & Research Marc H. Morial President & CEO Jerika Richardson Senior Vice President of Equitable Justice & Strategic Initiatives Yvette Badu-Nimako Interim Executive Director, Washington Bureau Alex Rias Vice President for Equitable Justice Brady Miller Weil Legal Innovator Fellow 2022–2023 (University of Texas School of Law) Memphis Johnston Student Intern, Summer 2023 (University of Southern California) Lauren Zhou Student Intern, Summer 2022 (Barnard College) Kevin Khadavi Student Intern, Summer 2023 (Stanford University) Sahitya Suresh Student Intern, Summer 2023 (University of Pennsylvania) Alex Rias Vice President for Equitable Justice Indira Rivera Weil Legal Innovator Fellow 2021–2022 (Columbia University Law School) Luz Villar Senior Manager for National Expungement Project3 NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE CONTENTS 4 Executive Summary 6 Part 1: Regional Guide to Community-Led Efforts Against Violence 7 Northeast Region 23 Southeast Region 39 Midwest Region 49 West / Southwest Region 64 Part 2: Tools For Advocacy 65 National Gun Violence Statistical Primer 2019 to 2021 72 Federal Activity Supported by the National Urban League in Full or Partially4 TOWARDS A NEW AGE FOR COMMUNITY SAFETY NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE Executive Summary The National Urban League is a movement built upon a mission and legacy of lifting barriers to justice, prosperity and power through direct service, advocacy, and convening thought-leaders to inspire actionable innovation and change. Since 1910, our movement has responded nationally and locally to the pressing issues of our communities and to threats against our lives. Today, our mandate is even stronger in the face of rising firearm violence and attempts to weaken community resolve. Reports by U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics revealed that following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, gun violence increased by about 30% after an extended period of steady decreases in national firearm violence. However, according to Giffords Law Center’s Annual Gun Law Scorecard, states with the least restrictive gun safety laws have been hardest hit by gun violence between 2011 and 2020. To add, the FBI Hate Crime Statistics report showed that race- ethnicity- or ancestry-based complaints through 2021 made up nearly 65% of all reported hate crimes. During the same period, personal firearm ownership has proliferated through the United States, ballooning to over 400 million handguns and assault rifles currently in circulation. These findings tell a compelling story of a nation in crisis and in need of community- based solution-finding. We can point to economic instability and the disruption of jobs and direct social services due to the coronavirus pandemic. We can also point to the rise in politically motivated violence manifesting through racial, religious, sex-based, and sexual orientation-based hate and fear, and the rise of online hate and devious misinformation. Through the work of the National Urban League’s Office of the President and Equitable Justice and Strategic Initiatives division, the following report is intended to usher us Toward a New Age of Community Safety, where a framework for violence prevention and gun reform is timely, useful, and necessary for our Affiliate network, our movement partners, and the general public. When we released the 21 Pillars for Redefining Public Safety and Restoring Community Trust in 2021, we highlighted the importance of engaging with communities directly, investing in them, and developing strategies for alternative responses to crisis. This New Age framework provides greater context, offering regional comparisons of various community-led movements, programs, and projects to serve as inspiration for collaboration and partnership no matter where in the country you are.5 NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE To be clear, the National Urban League has supported Universal Background Checks and Assault Weapons Bans federally to help stem the rising tide of gun violence. We also know, thanks to insights and perspectives from our Affiliate, volunteer, and partner networks on the ground that federal law and policy change and direct community investment is the joint path forward we deserve. Within our report, you will find regional community projects for state and local violence prevention implementation from the Northeast to Southeast, to Midwest, and West/ Southwest. Our lists are intended to be instructive and demonstrative of the growing movement toward innovative, community-led prevention systems, but is not an exhaustive list of the thousands of efforts borne everyday by leaders in every community. This report also provides legislative and policy context for gun safety and reform on the federal, state, and local level, and statistical resources that we have found helpful to our movement’s work in this space. It is our hope that this document provides inspiration to the growing movement for change led by communities through partnership between neighbors, with government, and with nongovernmental allies. It is through the legacy of the Urban League movement that we are fortified and firm in our belief that through the frustration of these trying times that we can find solutions and strategies for building stronger, safer, and collaborative communities.Regional Guide to Community-Led Efforts Against Violence PART I 6 TOWARDS A NEW AGE FOR COMMUNITY SAFETY NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE Government-delivered program Government-funded community program Non-government community program Program with full or partial youth-specific integration Throughout this section, some strategies that differ from the common practices are highlighted using the following color codes: » New York »New Jersey » District of Columbia »Pennsylvania » Massachusetts NORTHEAST REGION 7 NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE8 TOWARDS A NEW AGE FOR COMMUNITY SAFETY NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUENORTHEAST NEW YORK Alternatives to Policing Mental Health Response Team: A New York City pilot program (B-HEARD) that dispatches mental health specialists and paramedics instead of police for certain nonviolent emergency calls has resulted in more people accepting assistance and fewer people sent to the hospital, early data shows. • In 95% of cases, people accepted care from the B-HEARD team, which is compared with 82% for traditional 911 response teams, including police. • “ This is great news. A smarter approach to public health and public safety. A smarter use of resources. And the evidence—from Denver to New York—shows that responding with care works,” U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y. • What prompted its creation: Daniel Prude was killed by Rochester police officers after being physically restrained. Prude has been suffering from a mental health episode. Cure Violence Program: Since 2012, the NYC Health Department has been providing program oversight and support to anti-violence programs in the city. The Cure Violence model is an evidence-based public health approach that seeks to stop the spread of violence by using the following methods and strategies associated with disease control: detecting and interrupting conflicts, identifying, and treating the highest risk individuals and changing social norms. Cure Violence in NYC is part of the City’s Anti-Gun Violence Crisis Management System, which is an initiative to reduce gun violence in 17 city precincts. The initiative includes Mobile Trauma Units, Safe in the City Grants, Public Safety Coalitions and Gun Violence Survivors Advisory Council. • A John Jay study provided promising evidence that a public health approach to violence reduction may help to create safer and healthier communities. When compared with similar areas of New York City, gun violence rates declined significantly in two neighborhoods operating programs inspired by the Cure Violence model. • Mayor Adams’ anti-gun blueprint puts “cure violence” groups center stage Gun Trafficking Prevention and Collaboration with ATF on the Iron Pipeline Gun Buyback Program: NYPD offers $200 to anyone who surrenders a gun. This program is part of an ongoing effort to encourage New Yorkers who own guns to turn them in anonymously. • New York Attorney General Letitia James announced that 84 firearms were turned in to law enforcement at a gun buyback event in the city of Rome. To date, Attorney General James has taken more than 2,300 firearms out of communities through gun buyback events and other efforts since taking office in 2019. “Gun buyback programs are essential to protecting New Yorkers and preventing dangerous guns from ending up in the wrong hands.” • A program in the Bronx is being called a success after 75 illegal guns were turned in. A Mother’s Promise worked with nonprofit Bronx Rising Initiative, the NYPD, and the Bronx District Attorney’s Office to create the gun buyback program, offering a $500 gift certificate to anyone who surrendered five guns. It was all anonymous. 9 NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE NORTHEAST Report and Interactive Tracing Analytics Platform: The Office of the Attorney General of the State of New York prepared the report on guns recovered in New York. The NYAG created this first-of-its-kind report and interactive Tracing Analytics Platform to better understand gun trafficking patterns and to assess the efficacy of laws in combatting illegal guns in New York State. The Platform further allows local law enforcement to reach their own conclusions about how to address crime guns in their area. • By collecting and analyzing New York aggregate gun trace data for 2010-2015, NYAG identified regional differences in trafficking patterns while discovering a commonality among crime guns recovered across New York State: New York’s gun laws have curbed access to the guns most associated with violent crimes, handguns. • The analysis led to several recommendations, including calling on the federal government to close the so-called “gun show loophole” which allows private sales of firearms without a background check, and urging states to require permits for handguns, which has worked effectively in New York to keep these dangerous guns out of the hands of criminals. • The NYAG report, informed by an analysis of gun trace data, highlights how guns flow into New York from states with weaker gun laws. Leaders from New York and 8 other states joined together for the first-ever multi-state gun intelligence consortium. • According to Governor Hochul, there has been an 80% increase in firearm homicides here in New York since 2019 and 75% of the guns that committed those crimes came from out of state. • This new Interstate Task Force on Illegal Guns has been charged with identifying how weapons are being trafficked across state lines and from which states. • The multi-state consortium convened to share intelligence, tools, tactics, and strategies to combat gun violence. The State Police discussed the latest tools and technologies available as well as analysis of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). • Members of the Consortium: New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, Ohio, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New Hampshire. Community Violence Intervention Funding from the Governor: Hochul Announced that NYS Has Provided $30 Million in Grants to Fight Gun Violence Over Last Three Months • The Governor announced $6.3 Million in new funds to expand community and hospital- based gun violence intervention programs across the state. • Governor Hochul also announced $100,000 in new grants to Family Services of Westchester and Peace is a Lifestyle to expand their youth engagement and anti- violence programming in Westchester and the Bronx. • The funding will allow nonprofit organizations and hospitals to hire 90 new outreach workers, violence interrupters, credible messengers, and social workers who will work to reduce gun violence through mediation, mentoring and community engagement, and addressing the trauma experienced by victims of violence and their families.Next >