Council reviews two violence-reduction contracts funded by BJA grants
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Summary
The Department of Neighborhoods asked council to authorize contracts with the Hospital Council of Northwest Ohio (up to $66,355) to coordinate the Violence Reduction Council and with the Roca Institute (up to $175,000 through Oct. 2027) to provide ReWire CBT training; staff cited domestic-violence data and preliminary outcome measures for ReWire.
The Toledo City Council reviewed two related public-safety items on Nov. 12 funded by Bureau of Justice Assistance grants.
The Department of Neighborhoods asked permission to contract with the Hospital Council of Northwest Ohio for up to $66,355 to continue coordinating the city’s Violence Reduction Council, which brings together the police department, prosecutor's office, hospitals, grassroots partners and other stakeholders. The presenter said the council initially focused on violent incidents among 14–24-year-old Black males and later added a focus on violence against women.
On the prevalence of domestic violence, the presenter said, "it is around 2,000 cases per year, and has been for about the past 20 years," and that the city has seen an uptick of roughly 100 additional reported cases annually since 2021; over the last five years the department cited about 28,000 calls related to domestic violence with roughly 3,000 involving injuries.
The second item would authorize a contract (not to exceed $175,000) with the Roca Institute to license and provide training in ReWire CBT for city staff, community-violence-intervention partners and grassroots organizations through October 2027. The presenter described early cohort outcomes from local training materials (transcript figures reported to council: 98% improved behavioral-health outcomes, 84% had no new arrests, and 93% had no new incarcerations) and said the city aims to train roughly 100 people and certify 10 trainers.
Council members asked for a scope-of-work and budget breakdown for the Hospital Council contract and requested further data on hospital reporting and judicial outcomes; staff said some of that reporting has been requested and that more detailed breakdowns will take time. Councilwoman Williams asked that the contract scope and spending breakdown be sent to council via referral.
What happens next: Council asked staff for contract scope, budgets and clearer data breakdowns before final approval; both items were presented and discussed but no final contracting vote was recorded during the agenda review.