Nonprofit hopes federal grant just under $1M can help reduce gun violence in North Columbia | Columbia News

COLUMBIA — A game day, police athletic league and student groups are all part of Serve & Connect’s plan to reduce gun violence in North Columbia with the help of a federal grant.

Kassy Alia Ray founded Serve & Connect after her husband, Columbia Police Officer Greg Alia, was shot and killed responding to a call in 2015. The nonprofit has evolved since then, as Alia Ray realized police and community members often only interact during criminal investigations.

The group received a $964,480 grant in 2022 through the Department of Justice’s Byrne Criminal Justice Program to continue fostering positive relationships between police officers and residents and interrupt violence, specifically in Columbia’s 29203 ZIP code, with the goal of cutting gun violence in half over three years.

Serve & Connect was one of 20 groups across the country to receive funding through the program, and the only one in South Carolina in 2022.

For 2022, the first of the three years, Serve & Connect has had access to $150,000 in grant money, which it is using to pilot programs and gather data alongside its partners, including the Columbia Police Department and community leaders. In spring of 2023, Serve & Connect plans to submit a final proposal, using the work it did for the past year to the U.S. Department of Justice, unlocking the rest of the funds.

The first phase has included listening sessions in which community members talk about what they want to see and pilot programs starting to address those needs, site coordinator Erica Staley said.

The program focuses “on harnessing and empowering all of the stakeholders in the communities, the parents and the leaders and the families and the young people that are living in these communities and experiencing this issue every single day,” Staley said.

This gives “them a seat at the table so that … their ideas and their support and their efforts … help to generate a sustainable, collaborative effort,” she said.

Over the summer, Serve & Connect hosted block parties to connect residents and police officers. The group also restarted after-school youth groups where middle school and high school students can talk about what’s worrying them and give ideas on solutions.

Part of the work involves providing activities for young people to do, often alongside police officers. On Dec. 22, Serve & Connect hosted a game day that included touch football and video games. The group also hopes to reignite Columbia’s police athletic league.

While people are having fun, Serve & Connect tries to prevent violence before it starts by building relationships, giving to youth outlets to learn conflict resolution skills and connecting people to resources.

“A big aspect of that is, you’re building trusting relationships with youth and hopefully mitigating conflict before it arises,” Alia Ray said. “We need to make sure there are wraparound supports to really support (high-risk) young people and their families and redirect them on a different path that really maximizes their success in the future.”

Part of the initial grant proposal included using violence interrupters, or people in the community who work to stop violence before it starts, similar to the international Cure Violence program. After gaining national attention in 2020, people touted Cure Violence as an alternative to traditional policing, though academic research has found mixed results.

Serve & Connect has been working with similar programs across the country and state while asking, “What could that model look like here in Columbia?” Alia Ray said.

“And, in particular, what would it look like focused on youth?”

The grant program will build on the work Serve & Connect has been doing but add more funding to expand its initiatives, Alia Ray said. Part of the plan is to deepen the relationships Serve & Connect has already fostered among police officers and North Columbia residents.

Columbia Police Lt. Jeffrey Brink said giving police and community members opportunities to interact outside of crime scenes and investigations has already led to more trust and better communication, making it easier to respond to incidents and address people’s needs.

“For years, we tried to fit services into certain communities, and we weren’t really listening to what the communities needed,” Brink said. “Serve & Connect interjected themselves into these communities where they’re actually doing surveys and figuring out exactly what people want and what people need.”

Often, people in communities with high levels of poverty and crime struggle to access support, said Belmont Community Association President Richard Hammond. As Serve & Connect continues its work, he said he wanted it to keep bringing help to the people.

Serve & Connect is looking at using some of the grant money to hire caseworkers who would help determine what each person needs and getting it to them.

“Bring those out into the neighborhoods instead of the neighborhoods trying to navigate to the resources,” Hammond said. “Sometimes, it’s very hard for a mother or caretaker to get to point A and B when she has a couple of kids.”

With cities across South Carolina and the country grappling with how to reduce gun violence, Alia Ray said she hopes Serve & Connect’s plan can go beyond cutting down violence in the 29203 ZIP code and become widely applicable for other places.

“At a time when there is so much pain and violence has been on the rise, and we as a nation have in many ways been more disconnected than ever, I am hopeful that at the end of this, we’re able to show that healing is possible,” Alia Ray said.

“When we come together, we can really create better outcomes that make a huge impact, especially in some of our relationships, our trust and real safety and peace.”

Click here for more news from Columbia, S.C.