Speakers urge council to fund Advance Peace program as a violence-prevention strategy

Several speakers at the Citizens Forum urged Cincinnati leaders to invest in a community violence intervention program called Advance Peace, arguing that funds devoted to credible messengers and outreach would reduce cyclical gun violence.

Bishop Sonny James, introducing a "come together" event, and Carol Womelldorf (spelling as given in the transcript) both spoke in support of community-led approaches. Carol Womelldorf presented specific funding figures, saying a $1,000,000 investment per year for five years (a total of $5,000,000) could reduce violence and save money. "The Advance Peace Cincinnati program can reduce cyclical and retaliatory gun violence by 20% within 2 years," she said, and described the strategy as hiring credible messengers and counselors rather than paying shooters.

Metropolitan Area Religious Coalition Executive Director Daniel (Danny) Burridge also urged council to consider Advance Peace and to work with local civil-society groups experienced in violence reduction. "Please consider investing in Advance Peace, and I'd love to speak more with you about that," Burridge said.

Speakers framed the program as a public-health–style intervention focused on healing and preventing retaliatory violence, and contrasted it with reactive spending on law enforcement. Speakers attributed specific effectiveness estimates (20% reduction) and cost-savings calculations to the Advance Peace model; those claims were presented as speaker assertions, not independently verified in the meeting.

Discussion vs. decision: The remarks were made during public comment; no council vote or formal directive to fund Advance Peace was recorded in the meeting minutes. Council members later referenced broader public-safety funding proposals for the city but did not in this meeting commit specific funds to Advance Peace.

Ending: Speakers asked council to engage civil-society partners in designing community-led violence-reduction efforts; no formal budget action or referral was recorded at the meeting.