City Seeks Violence Interrupters

By Ivan Saul Cutler, Carolina Peacemaker / October 13, 2023

The City of Greensboro is soliciting proposals from qualified companies and businesses to implement the Community Violence Intervention & Interruption Project (CVIIP), beginning in January 2024 and granting $500,000 annually for three years.

During a community meeting at the Peeler Recreation Center, city staff outlined the comprehensive group violence intervention and interruption program to 35 people representing various non-profits and service organizations. The funding will be granted in three levels, with Tier 1, up to $75,000; Tier 2, up to $100,000 and Tier 3, $200,000.

“The goal of Violence Prevention is to work with violence interruption groups throughout the city to develop action plans centered on encouraging neighborhood participation and engagement in violent crime reduction,” said Latisha McNeil, manager of the Office of Community Safety with the City of Greensboro. The deadline for submissions is 1:59 p.m., October 31, 2023, with no extension or exceptions. McNeil explained that the funded organizations will be announced in December.
The project’s goals and expected outcomes of funded proposals are to increase community mobilization and messaging around anti-violence activities and initiatives, increase community-led responses to denounce violent incidents, develop better connections to support services, increase positive engagements with the Greensboro Police Department (GPD) and ultimately reduce violent crime.

McNeil discussed and responded to questions about the project with Arthur Durham, the city’s violence prevention coordinator. Together they reiterated that the funding process is rigorous, with intense scrutiny of the proposal’s outcomes that need to be evidence-based. As with any city proposal request, the information submitted is open to the public for viewing and inspection.

Durham said, “The Office of Community Safety is looking to fund local, collaborative, and community-driven projects that will build, strengthen, and empower community-led anti-violence efforts, foster positive relationships between the community and law enforcement, support community members who have recently returned, or are soon to return from incarceration and strengthen and empower community-led anti-violence efforts.”

For more information on this project, visit the City of Greensboro’s Office of Community Safety: https://www.greensboro-nc.gov/departments/executive/office-of-community-safety.