After more than a year of meetings of community leaders, stakeholders and concerned citizens, the Peoria Safety Network is preparing to put boots on the ground to prevent gun violence.
At the organization’s April meeting, Peoria Police Department Crime Analyst Jacob Moushon showed the group a map highlighting hotspots for violent crime in Peoria. He then used various overlays depicting area demographics, house owners versus renters, average age and more.
Moushon suggests starting in a four block radius on Peoria’s south side, starting with the intersection of Griswold Street and Garden Street, up to Marquette Street, over to Westmoreland Avenue and back down to Garden.
“The big thing is once we go out, and we know what's in that neighborhood and what resources they need, we may be able to handle more,” said Moushon. “And then we can come back and say we can handle 12 blocks, what's the other six that we're going to have? Right? And it's going to be in the same area.”
Peoria Mayor Rita Ali has said in past Safety Network meetings the organization wants to get started in the area, instead of waiting for other programs, like Cure Violence, to eventually get established there. When asked to volunteer to visit one of the roughly 50 homes in the designated area, somewhere between 20 and 30 members raised their hands.
Ali says the enthusiasm and dedication is encouraging, but the organization will also have to consider relatability and safety when choosing their ambassadors.
“In some cases, we won't go out individually, we'll go out in teams in some cases,” she said. “But again, knowing as much as we can about that household before we get there is important.”
The Network will gather more data about the designated households over the next month, for presentation at the next meeting, and then use it to inform visits happening during the month of May. Moushon says they can find more data by utilizing information from the department and Peoria Public Schools, but it’s important to note some of that information may be out-of-date.
“There are ways we can get some of that information,” he said. “But there is no guaranteed way until we knock on that door.”
Moushon does have some broad overview data outside of crime: the area is roughly 20 percent juveniles, 40 percent African-American and around 60 percent renters. Safety Network members threw out various ideas to prime the community for conversations and overcome trust barriers, like gift cards or a block party event.
Once connection is established and the group knows more about the families in the area, Ali says they’ll figure out how to get them connected with their needs, whether it’s legal assistance, education, rental assistance or food. She says the diverse backgrounds of Safety Network members is a boon for this initiative.
“There is just a wealth of resources in this room every time I mean from attorneys, to educators, to social workers, to again, police resources to the faith based community,” she said. “It's just amazing.”
Cure Violence Picks Community Partner
The Peoria City/County Health Department also provided an update on Cure Violence Global, the initiative searching for a partner organization to get started in a designated zone of the East Bluff.
Epidemiology and Clinical Services Director Katy Endress says a review board has recommended a contract with Peoria Community Against Violence, or PCAV, to the Board of Health.
“What they were really looking at was, you know, a history of engagement in that community, as well as a demonstrated ability to serve victims of gun violence,” said Endress. “Which PCAP has been doing in the community for several years now.”
The review board included local clergy, law enforcement, school district officials and citizens and stakeholders from the neighborhood. Endress says the current PCAV brick-and-mortar location is a half mile from the designated area and PCAV is looking for a rental location.
If the contract is approved by the Board of Health on Monday, PCAV’s responsibilities will include hiring and training Violence Interrupters in conjunction with Cure Violence and serving as a “base of operations” for the initiative.
Endress says the hiring process will start as soon as possible if the contract is approved.
