Cure Violence Global recently partnered with Winston-Salem to deliver an outreach program to reduce crime. | Cure Violence/Facebook
Cure Violence Global recently partnered with Winston-Salem to deliver an outreach program to reduce crime. | Cure Violence/Facebook
The City of Winston-Salem approved a three-year deal with Cure Violence Global, using coronavirus relief funds to pay $750,000 for the project that will bring a national crime prevention group to the city.
Cure Violence targets areas with high crime rates and sends "violence interrupters" and caseworkers who are familiar with the area out to interact with people who are likely to commit crimes, the organization's website said. The goal is to set those individuals on a different path.
"We are getting ready to hire six or seven violence interrupters that will be working with this program and move right into the highest crime areas of the city," Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines told WGHP.
Based on Core Violence's success model, after the City assesses hot spots for criminal activity, it will look to hire people who know the affected areas well or live there, the WGHP report said. For this project, the Piedmont Circle and Cleveland Avenue areas will be key targets.
Core Violence is not new to the Triad, as it has a presence in Greensboro, the report said. There, under the management of Ingram Bell, that city has seen reductions in violent crime over the past year in its target areas.
Bell noted that a site in Winston-Salem offers promise.
"It's going to be amazing for Winston-Salem,' he told WGHP. "It's easier for us to talk to us, versus talking to the police because the police are reactive instead of proactive; so we're there before anything happens, so we can curb the violence before some of this escalates into a bigger issue of a homicide."
The goal is to break the cycle of violence.
"Once someone is shot, both sides lose; so there's no reason to continue that cycle, so let’s stop it at the head," Bell said. "And if we catch them at the hospital, it's easier to have a conversation with them and talk them down."
Winston-Salem is starting with a three-year commitment but will build upon that if the City sees results, Joines said. Violence interrupters should be out in the target communities by the end of the summer.
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