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DAVENPORT, Iowa (KWQC) – The Quad Cities Community Foundation is granting $300,000 for funding Davenport Police Department\u2019s Group Violence Intervention<\/a> strategy to stop violent crime. <\/p>\n The grant is a three-year transformation grant meant to help reach more people and deepen the connections they\u2019ve already made in the program.<\/a><\/p>\n A large part of the transformation grant will have Family Resources dedicate an existing staff member solely to GVI outreach and follow-up. A smaller share will furnish honoraria to community members, who have volunteered their time and talents to participate in custom notifications.<\/p>\n The grant will also fund research and evaluation by St. Ambrose University\u2019s Institute for Person-Center Care, an interdisciplinary body combining public health and criminal justice, to measure GVI\u2019s effectiveness and lay the groundwork for additional funding opportunities in the future, a must for the strategy\u2019s long-term sustainability.<\/p>\n GVI brings together law enforcement, social services, and credible community voices with a unified message\u2014\u201dwe want to see you safe, alive, and out of prison\u201d\u2014to reach people at the highest risk of violent offending or victimization.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t usually see law enforcement, social services, and community members show up together,\u201d said Tee LeShoure, who leads Family Resources\u2019 Survivors of Homicide and Other Violent Crimes team. \u201cWhen all three collaborate together, it sends a different message. It\u2019s a different dynamic. It\u2019s something I\u2019ve never seen before.\u201d<\/p>\n During what is called \u201ccustom notifications,\u201d a team of representatives from the police, Family Resources, and the community approach people to open lines of direct and respectful communication. The goal of the meetings is for everyone involved to convey the message that the violence must stop and make a sincere offer of help, setting the stage for Family Resources to provide those victims or offenders with highly individualized trauma-informed social services. As a last resort, law enforcement reserves strategic consequences if someone continues to engage in gun violence after the meeting.<\/p>\n Dwayne Hodges has worked with the Davenport Police Department and the nonprofit Family Resources as a community volunteer for eight months with GVI to roll out the program and help turn the tide on gun violence in the Quad Cities community.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to be a voice to those who have had adversity come into their lives,\u201d said Hodges, who is a community organizer, a certified substance abuse counselor, and a pastor. \u201cBeing someone with reach in the community and a personal backstory helps me help others look at life from a different perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n According to police, the team behind GVI has successfully contacted 75 at-risk people since the program launched in the spring of 2022. Of the people reached as of December, only three went on to be involved in gun violence afterward.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes you can look at the headlines and feel like this is a problem we\u2019re never going to wrap our arms around, but that\u2019s not true,\u201d said Sarah Ott, the City of Davenport\u2019s chief strategy officer. \u201cWe can, and we are.\u201d<\/p>\n In Davenport, just 0.19 percent of the population is involved in roughly 55 percent of the city\u2019s gun violence, meaning that carefully calibrated outreach can go a long way toward addressing the problem, according to police. Violent victimization and offending disproportionately impacts Black males aged 19 to 34, a group typically underserved by social services and facing many systemic disadvantages. In many cases, victims become offenders and offenders become victims in a cycle of violence.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you want things to change\u2014if you want the violence to stop, if you want to transform lives\u2014you have to be a part of the solution,\u201d added Hodges. \u201cThis is a different way of helping people. We are giving people a hand up to help make changes in their lives, and sometimes they just need to hear somebody say, \u2018I care about you.\u2019 That\u2019s what GVI is doing.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Quad Cities Community Foundation, the grants are made possible by donors who give to the foundation\u2019s Quad Cities Community Impact Fund<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cComplex community challenges like this can only be solved through collaboration,\u201d said Sue Hafkemeyer, president and CEO of the Community Foundation. \u201cWe\u2019re excited to see an innovative tool for promoting racial equity and ensuring our community is safe for everybody who calls it home. By supporting this effort now, we believe we can transform it into the wider regional strategy needed, activating the entire community together.\u201d<\/p>\n Copyright 2023 KWQC. All rights reserved.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n