Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Safety topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Council approves $1.375M in contracts for community violence intervention programs
Summary
Columbus City Council approved contracts that provide funding to the Columbus Urban League and Community for New Direction to expand violence-intervention staffing and street- and school-based services coordinated by the Office of Violence Prevention.
Columbus City Council voted to approve two contracts administered by the Office of Violence Prevention to expand community-based violence-intervention programs.
Council approved a contract authorizing up to $725,000 to the Columbus Urban League and a second contract authorizing up to $650,000 to Community for New Direction. Both contracts waive competitive-bidding requirements and were declared emergency expenditures; the council approved both measures in committee and by roll call.
Director Rena Shaq, of the Office of Violence Prevention, said the contracts will expand intervention staff and broaden the footprint of each organization’s work. She described the city’s aim to develop a comprehensive community violence intervention ecosystem that includes school-based programs, family-oriented case management, street-level response and 24/7 crisis response in high-risk locations.
According to the director’s description at the meeting, some contracted interventionists primarily provide school-based programming for high-risk youth; others provide whole-family case management, including referrals to city programs such as reroute and to public-health services. The director said Community for New Direction focuses heavily on school-based work, while the Columbus Urban League operates effectively in street-level, high-risk settings.
Councilmember Riemi led questions about specific activities; the director and staff answered that services include mediation and de-escalation, referrals to supportive services and crisis response to shootings, aggravated assaults and other serious incidents. The contracts were presented as expansions of an existing network of more than 100 violence-reduction professionals coordinated by the Office of Violence Prevention.
Both ordinances passed by roll call; one council member abstained on the Columbus Urban League vote and the Urban League contract passed with the abstention recorded. The Community for New Direction contract passed by voice and roll call.
