Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Community Programming topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Portsmouth United funds 40+ summer programs, readies app and expands violence-interruption; $2.9 million state award pending
Summary
Portsmouth United staff reported July 28 that the program funded more than 40 summer activities, is launching a community app within weeks, is 80% complete on violence-interrupter contracts and received a state award notification for $2.9 million pending appropriation.
Shantel Matthews, speaking for Portsmouth United, told the Crime and Gun Violence Prevention Task Force on July 28 that the program funded more than 40 summer initiatives and has several near-term operational changes planned.
Matthews said the task force put out a call for summer programming and funded projects up to $5,000 per program. She described a lawn-care pilot run with Give Back to the Block, Footprint Foundation and the sheriff’s office that provided work and lunch for more than 30 youth and included soft-skills and conflict-management coaching.
Matthews said Portsmouth United is about 80% complete on paperwork to contract violence interrupters and plans a training series led by national community-violence-intervention (CVI) leaders from Aug. 11–14. She described additional training components: crisis-stabilization sessions with a GSW practitioner (Dr. Jordan Murphy), faith-based training in collaboration with Norfolk churches led by a Kalamazoo-based organizer, and a concluding film screening and Q&A on CVI methods.
On funding, Matthews said the state notified Portsmouth United of an award last Thursday and that the award packet arrived the following week. She said the funds will not be appropriated until approximately August (her words); she gave the award amount as $2,900,000 and said she will issue award letters only after funds are in the city account. Matthews also said the program’s spend plan is tight: Portsmouth United will scale violence interrupters from two positions this year to 10 next year, a component she said will require about $500,000.
Matthews announced an app rollout in about 20 days. She said developers engaged youth during design, added features youth requested (including ways to generate income), and will pair the app with a marketing plan targeted to youth and adults. Matthews invited task force members to pilot the app and to help with promotion; commissioners suggested mailers and cross-posting on personal and organizational social channels.
Task force members also discussed a neighborhood needs survey. Commissioners agreed to convene a community-engagement committee meeting before the next full commission meeting to draft survey questions and a distribution plan that will collect respondents’ neighborhood or ZIP code so results can be mapped to local needs.
Ending: Portsmouth United staff will complete interrupter contracts, run the Aug. 11–14 training, finish the app pilot and hold a community-engagement committee meeting ahead of the rescheduled full commission meeting on Aug. 11.
