DeKalb County presentation maps violence 'hot spots,' eyes Office of Violence Prevention after federal planning grant

Acting Chair Commissioner Ted Terry convened DeKalb County's Planning, Economic Development and Community Services Committee (PECS) to hear an update on the county's Community Violence Intervention Plan (CVIP), a three-year federal planning grant funded by the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA).

The county's human services team, led by Director Damon Scott, and partners from Cure Violence Global presented the community readiness assessment, geographic heat maps of gun violence "hot spots," an estimated return-on-investment model and the next steps: an asset-mapping phase and continued pilot work aimed at developing a permanent Office of Violence Prevention (OVP).

Why it matters: The presentation laid out a data-driven case for targeting services and prevention strategies in discrete neighborhoods and for sustaining a county-level coordinating office. Presenters said the planning grant's funding and partnerships let DeKalb test interventions and assemble cross-sector partners (hospitals, schools, law enforcement, public health) ahead of any recommendation about ongoing local funding.

What the county presented

- Grant and scope: Deborah Furtado of DeKalb County Human Services described the grant as a three-year planning award received in 2022 and cited the grant amount: "$1,500,000" for planning and related activities. She said the work follows a public-health approach and that the team is moving into an "asset mapping" phase to catalog strengths and gaps within target neighborhoods.

- Assessment approach: Keyonus "Q" Cornel, regional associate director for national programs at Cure Violence Global, said the assessment combined in-person community meetings (residents, business owners, community centers, barbershops), stakeholder interviews and data analysis to test local readiness and adapt Cure Violence's model to DeKalb. Cornel said the model is standardized but "it really does take that community visit to really figure out how to fine tune it to make it right for you all's community."

- Hot-spot identi…