Title
Authorizing the Office of Neighborhood Safety to expend up to $25,000.00 on wraparound supports for individuals and families in crisis and in need of emergency assistance.
Body
WHEREAS, the City of Saint Paul created the Office of Neighborhood Safety (ONS) pursuant to City Ordinance 22-9; and
WHEREAS, the ONS is charged with establishing, coordinating, and advancing violence prevention, interruption, and reconciliation strategies in order to increase safety and overall well-being for residents, and maintaining a sustainable structure for community-first public safety efforts; and
WHEREAS, the City of Saint Paul has recently suffered an increase in gun violence among a small group of residents; and
WHEREAS, according to research by the Giffords Law Center, involvement with gun violence including being shot, shot at, or witnessing a shooting, roughly doubles the probability that a person will commit a violent act within two years; and
WHEREAS, in order to reduce this gun violence, the ONS has launched Project Peace in partnership with the Saint Paul Police Department-ASPIRE (A Saint Paul Intervention and Recovery Effort) Team, Healing Streets, Ramsey County Corrections, and Ramsey County Public Health; and
WHEREAS, Project Peace is a methodical, individualized gun violence intervention that connects people at imminent risk of being the victim or perpetrator of violence with intensive case management, life coaching, emergency housing, relocation assistance, transitional employment programming, and other wraparound supports; and
WHEREAS, Project Peace is currently piloting referrals for potential victims and perpetrators of gun violence in order to prevent gun violence before it occurs; and
WHEREAS, Project Peace is being built with strategies known as Group Violence Intervention (GVI) and CURE Violence; and
WHEREAS, GVI deploys a “focused deterrence” strategy involving community leaders, social service providers, and law enforcement; and...
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