DETROIT (WWJ) -- Following up on a bold plan rolled out during Mayor Mike Duggan’s State of the City address this spring, the city is turning to community groups to help reduce and stop violent crime and gun violence.
City officials on Wednesday announced that six grassroots community groups have been selected to be part of the new ShotStoppers program after a bidding process. They will be given funds to implement plans in their communities in an attempt to reduce and prevent violent crimes.
“It is indeed a bold plan. But, the city believes that there's a certain street credibility that these grassroots organizations will have with people in their neighborhoods that would potentially commit a crime,” WWJ’s Ryan Marshall reported.
Each group selected for the program – which is funded by the American Rescue Plan – is responsible for reducing homicides and shootings in what authorities have determined to be the neighborhoods hit hardest by violence in Detroit.
They have each been given a 3.5 to 4.5 square mile area – called a CVI Zone – by using their own violence prevention strategy.
Each group pitched its own specific crime reduction approach based on their experience, expertise, and knowledge of the local community.
The six groups to be selected are:
• Detroit Peoples Community
• Detroit 300
• New Era Community Connection
• Force Detroit
• Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency, Denby Neighborhood Alliance, and Camp Restore
• Detroit Friends and Family
City officials had initially hoped to choose 3-5 groups, but said these six groups' proposals "were so strong, the Mayor is asking Council to expand the original scope of the program."
Each community-based group will receive a quarterly base budget of $175,000 to execute their prevention strategy. In any quarter the contractor’s efforts “reduce serious violence by 10 percentage points more than the city as a whole, they will receive an additional $87,500 in prevention funding,” city officials said.
And in any quarter, they outperform the rest of the city by 20%, they will receive an additional $175,000.
“This is not about authority, this is not about enforcement, this is about love,” said Negas Vu, the Founder and President of Detroit People's Community.
“So when we talk about CVI, we’re talking about reaching out to these young men, reaching out to these young women and whomever that is at risk and giving them love, giving them an alternative,” Vu said.
Detroit City Council President Mary Sheffield said the leaders of the groups know “the unique needs of these zip codes that they’re gonna be working in.”
The contracts will be submitted to Detroit City Council this week, with the goal of beginning CVI services by July 1, “in time for the peak summer months when violence typically rises,” city officials said in a press release.
The community groups will have one month to ramp up their programs before the City begins measuring their performance on August 1.
More information on the program can be found on the city’s website.
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