Explanation
This ordinance authorizes an appropriation within the Public Safety Initiatives subfund in support of expanding the APPS Neighborhood Violence Intervention Program.
In February 2018, Columbus City Council committed $500,000 in funding to support community safety initiatives. In addition to supplementing the Police recruiting classes in an effort to stem neighborhood violence, Council funding is intended to enhance the city's violence intervention program, build, empower, and unify neighborhood leaders, enhance collaboration between human services providers, and provide additional youth employment opportunities.
The Applications for Purpose, Pride, and Success (APPS) program was created in 2011. Its mission is to reduce crime and violence by increasing protective factors in the lives of Columbus youth and young adults (ages 14-23) through proven prevention and intervention strategies. Those strategies include offering safe and constructive alternatives to violence, youth mentorship, linkage to necessary services, and providing long-term support for future goal attainment.
Through street-level violence interruption and conflict mediation by trained Violence Intervention workers, and neighborhood based services, the APPS Neighborhood Violence Intervention Program (NVI) program is focused on building relationships with proven high-risk youth - or known violent offenders - in order to guide them away from violence and toward positive alternatives, and to restore a sense of safety and improve the future outlook for the focus communities. Through pooled intelligence with law enforcement and community partners, the APPS NVI team hopes to identify the top riskiest youth in the most violent neighborhood gangs. As a result, APPS NVI mentoring efforts will be focused on the young people widely recognized to be the individual(s) driving the violence within the APPS designated neighborhoods.
The Neighborhood Violence Intervention Program has experienced increasi...
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